Iraqi Spokesman: Areas outside of Baghdad now 'breeding grounds for violence'

A father holds his daughter inside a hospital in Kirkuk yesterday after she was wounded by a roadside bomb.

BAGHDAD (AP) - An Iraqi military spokesman said Sunday that militants fleeing a security crackdown in Baghdad have made areas outside the capital "breeding grounds for violence," spreading deadly bombings and sectarian attacks to areas once relatively untouched.

The most recent strike occurred Sunday when a bomb struck a popular market in Tuz Khormato, 130 miles north of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding four. It was the second attack in the city in as many days after two Iraqis seeking work were killed in a car bombing on Saturday.

Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi promised the recent attacks would not derail the neighborhood-to-neighborhood sweep that began in Baghdad on Feb. 14.

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