one of Barack's biuggest challenges - cleaning up bush's quagmire

Blasts in Baghdad kill 6, wound more than 20

BAGHDAD – A series of bomb blasts across Baghdad killed six people and injured more than 20 others Thursday, police said, in the fourth consecutive day of heightened violence in the Iraqi capital.

Meanwhile, Iraqi officials said the U.S. has officially responded to Iraqi proposals for changes in a draft security pact that would keep American troops in the country three more years — but did not say what was in the response.

U.S. officials say attacks in Baghdad are averaging about four a day — down nearly 90 percent from levels in late 2006, when Shiite-Sunni fighting was at its high point and just before the U.S. troop surge that helped bring down violence in the capital.

But there has been a marked uptick this week, with a string of daily bombings in the capital that has killed more than 30 people and wounded around 80 others since Monday. The violence shows that insurgents remain a threat, even in the heavily secured Iraqi capital.

The deadliest attack Thursday came near a checkpoint in central Baghdad when two bombs exploded during the morning rush hour, police said. Four people were killed and seven wounded in the blasts.

Another bomb targeting a government convoy injured six people, police and hospital officials said. Police said the convoy was carrying city workers. The police spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release information.

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