IRAQ: An edgy normality returned to Baghdad yesterday with the lifting of a curfew imposed to contain days of sectarian bloodshed, but two attacks killed eight people and fears of civil war saw families fleeing hostile neighbours.
The Iraqi army deployed some of its few tanks around the capital - a partly symbolic move given the large if discreet presence of heavily armed US forces - as a mortar attack killed four people in a Shia district of Sunni west Baghdad.
In a further development the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, announced he was ending his hunger strike.
After evening prayers, two roadside bombs killed four people near a Sunni mosque in the mainly Shia east of the city.
US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad closely engaged in efforts to forge a national unity government, acknowledged Iraqis "came to the brink of civil war" after last Wednesday's suspected al-Qaeda bombing of a Shia shrine but said: "Things are getting better."
However the Sunni minority's main political bloc said it was not ready to end the boycott of coalition talks which it announced in protest at reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques. Police tallies indicate that more than 200 people died in the five days of violence.
Still fearful of sectarian reprisals, some families on both sides of Baghdad's religious divide abandoned homes where they felt threatened by neighbours or barricaded themselves in.
Iraq's defence ministry said security forces had killed 35 "terrorists" and detained 487 since last Wednesday. State television later announced the capture of a possibly Syrian aide to al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Four people were killed and 17 wounded by the mortar bomb that hit the Shia Shola district of the mainly Sunni west of the city, police said.
Last night interior ministry police commandos killed five suspected Sunni insurgents and captured 25 in a battle near Nakhrawan, southeast of Baghdad. Eight police were also killed and six wounded.
Washington, hoping for stability to enable it to start bringing home the 136,000 US troops now trying to keep order, has been pressing Shia leaders to accept minority Sunnis in a national unity government since the Sunnis took part in US-backed elections in December for the first time.
The sectarian crisis may be followed by dramatic courtroom scenes today if Saddam returns to his trial. The former leader ended an 11-day hunger strike for "health reasons", his chief lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, who met Saddam for seven hours in Baghdad, said on Sunday. Mr Dulaimi also said the defence counsel may end a boycott of the hearings.
Saddam staged a hunger strike to protest against his court proceedings, which have also been marred by the resignation of the chief judge and the killing of two defence attorneys.