At least 11 killed in Iraq market

Baghdad: Between 18 and 20 people were killed and dozens were wounded on Saturday in an attack at an outdoor market in a Mahmoudiya town, Iraqi authorities said.

The death toll released by the US military was lower. Officials said 11 people were killed and 23 were wounded.

The military said the casualties were the result of multiple car bombs, while the Iraqi Defense and Interior ministries said five parked motorcycles were rigged with explosives, and three mortar rounds fell. The Defense Ministry said 20 people died and 30 others were wounded. The Interior Ministry said 18 died and 60 were wounded. Soldiers and Iraqi police were searching for the attackers.

Markets in Iraq are typically packed at this time of year with shoppers buying chocolate, candy and new clothes to celebrate Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. The attack, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Baghdad, came two days after a similar attack in Khalis, north of Baquba. In that outdoor market attack, seven people were killed and 19 wounded.

Meanwhile, three US Marines were killed by enemy action in Anbar province Saturday, the US military said. The deaths bring the October death toll to 78, the highest US monthly total this year. Seventy-six troops were killed in April. A total of 2,791 troops have been killed in the war.

The attacks coincided with a White House summit at which President Bush discussed the Iraq situation with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld; Gen John Abizaid, the head of US Central Command; Gen Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and, via videolink from Baghdad, Gen George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq.

Also participating were Vice President Dick Cheney, US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and national security adviser Stephen Hadley.

No announcements followed the 90-minute meeting, which was described as routine by the administration. However, sources said Friday that the meeting had been arranged only in the past few days.

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Bush is expected to have similar meetings in the weeks ahead and proceed with "regular consultations with his Iraq team," White House spokeswoman Nicole Guillemard said.

In his weekly Saturday radio address, Bush said the US military's strategy on the ground is under constant review. But he emphasized: "There is one thing we will not do: We will not pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete."

In the Democratic radio response to Bush's Saturday radio address, Diane Farrell, who is seeking the seat of GOP Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut, urged Bush to fire Rumsfeld and for Congress to establish benchmarks for Iraqi officials, The Associated Press reported.

Calling for a "new direction in Iraq," Farrell said: "An arbitrary departure date could be dangerous, but real goals for the new Iraqi government and its army are necessary."

The White House talks were held two days after Maj Gen William Caldwell said the United States was having to rethink its plan to make Baghdad safer amid an upsurge in violence he said could be linked to Ramadan and November's US congressional elections.

A senior US State Department official offered an unusually candid assessment of the security situation in an interview Saturday with al-Jazeera television, the Associated Press reported.

Saying the US had shown arrogance and stupidity in Iraq, Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, also said the US was ready to talk with any Iraqi group except al-Qaeda in Iraq to facilitate national reconciliation.