String of Baghdad bomb blasts kills 16

Near Baqouba, Iraqi forces carried out a predawn raid on homes in two villages, arresting 41 suspects and seizing weapons and ammunition, provincial police said. The province has been the scene of increasing violence in recent weeks.

At least 53 people were killed across Iraq on Tuesday, a day after the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced a new security plan aimed at putting an end to sectarian violence.

The four-point plan calls for creating neighborhood Shiite-Sunni committees to monitor efforts to stop the killings. The aim is to overcome the deep mistrust between Sunnis and Shiites and get them to convince followers to stop killings.

Shiite and Sunni parties were expected to meet soon to work out details of the committees. But many Sunnis remain skeptical that Shiite leaders will allow security forces to crack down more strongly on Shiite militias blamed for killing Sunnis - including some linked to parties in the government.

"I haven't seen any real desire in the other side. There are militias supported by the government," said Sunni lawmaker Khalaf al-Alayan.

U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said that under the plan, parties that have militias have agreed to take "responsibility for what their groups or people under them are doing ... committing themselves to ending the sectarian violence."

But while the parties have said that through the committees "they can control most of the forces involved, there are forces that are not under their control," Khalilzad said in an interview with the U.S. National Public Radio. "But if they implement what they've agreed to there should be a significant decrease in the level of violence in Baghdad."

This week, gunmen carried out two mass kidnappings in as many days, abducting 38 people from workplaces in Baghdad - attacks that Sunnis said were carried out by Shiite militias.

In one of the kidnappings, gunmen took 24 workers from a frozen meats factory in Baghdad's Amil district on Sunday. The bodies of seven were later found dumped in the capital. The fate of the others is not known. Sunnis accused security forces of at least turning a blind eye to the assault.

In a sign the government may be seeking to keep its security officials in line, the Interior Ministry said the police commander for the Amil district had been discharged and arrested for investigation in the kidnapping

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