Rumsfeld makes surprise visit to Baghdad as violence flares

Several hours after Maliki spoke, clashes erupted between gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and police and residents in Um al-Maalif, a mainly Shi’ite neighbourhood in southern Baghdad. Police said at least two people were killed.

Security forces said the bodies of 20 bus drivers kidnapped earlier in the day from a bus station in Miqdadiya North of Baghdad were found in a village to the North. They had been blindfolded, bound and shot in the back of the head.

Rumsfeld cautioned that the ‘‘solution is not military’’ to ending communal bloodshed. ‘‘We make a mistake if we take the security question and think of it as separate from everything else. The Prime Minister’s effort with respect to reconciliation will be critically important in achieving better success,’’ he said.

Rumsfeld’s trip also comes amid growing anti-war sentiment in a congressional election year. He said it was too early to talk about adjusting US troop levels: ‘‘We haven’t gotten to that point.’’ Rumsfeld also said he did not plan to discuss a series of inquiries in which US soldiers are suspected of killing Iraqi civilians.