Those are among the 18 benchmarks which Washington uses to measure progress toward national reconciliation. A White House report last week found that Iraqis had made only limited progress, fueling calls for a US troop withdrawal.

The car bomb attack came in Hussein Square, a popular site of takeout restaurants in the central Baghdad district of Karradah. The afternoon blast ripped through nearby stalls and shops, killing 10 and wounding 25, according to officials at the two hospitals where the victims were taken. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

"It was a big explosion and a fire followed," said one witness, the owner of a nearby mobile phone shop who would identify himself only by his first name, Haidar. "I rushed with others at site to see two burned corpses inside a car and wounded people."

In northern Iraq, gunmen ambushed a convoy of border guards, killing six of them along with a civilian, a border guard commander said. When reinforcements pulled in, another guard died in the clash, which took place in the Kani Khal area, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad. The commander said the Sunni extremist group Ansar al-Islam was believed to be behind the attack.

Elsewhere, shootings in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk and several areas south of Baghdad killed eight people, according to police officers in the areas. Among there were the wife and son of a city council chief, slain outside their home. The police officials and guard commander also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Nevertheless, Rear Adm. Mark Fox told reporters that the sweeps in Baghdad, to the south and in the city of Baqouba to the northeast had stemmed bloodshed in the capital.

The offensives are "making a difference on the ground. We have seen a significant drop in the number of civilians murdered in Baghdad, the overall levels of sectarian violence has decreased," he said, without providing figures.

Recent weeks appear to have brought a decrease in dramatic car bomb attacks, though bombings still occur nearly daily. But according to figures gathered by The Associated Press, the daily rate of bodies found dumped in Baghdad - victims of sectarian slayings - has risen slightly so far this month from June.

In the first 14 days of July, 301 bodies were found in Baghdad, or an average of nearly 22 a day, compared to 19 a day in June, when 563 bodies were found, according to AP figures, gathered from daily reports by Iraqi police.

1

2