(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-10 20:22

A roadside bomb also exploded near a minibus in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing two passengers and wounding four others, while another civilian was killed in a drive-by shooting as he was walking elsewhere in the city, police said.

US forces have claimed recent successes in calming the Diyala provincial capital after launching an operation to clear it of al-Qaida in Iraq linked insurgents.

Hundreds of thousands of Shiites, meanwhile, began the journey home a day after massing in the streets outside a golden-domed shrine in northern Baghdad to commemorate the anniversary of the death of an 8th century saint, Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.

A few shook their fists at US soldiers standing alongside the procession route, but the march was mostly peaceful as authorities imposed a three-day driving ban that was to expire early Saturday.

The same festival was struck by tragedy two years ago, when an estimated 1,000 pilgrims were killed in a stampede over a bridge after panic that a suicide attacker was among them. And last year, snipers killed at least 20 people as the pilgrims walked through Sunni areas.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in Iran to talk about security and electricity deals. Iranian officials told al-Maliki that only a US pullout would bring peace to his nation and claimed the Tehran government was doing its best to help stabilize neighboring Iraq.

Al-Maliki said decisions about an American pullout were between Baghdad and Washington. This issue "belongs to the Iraqis only and it is related to the readiness of the Iraqi armed forces and their ability to take over security responsibilities," he told The Associated Press during the visit.

Al-Maliki has long played a delicate balancing act in the bitter rivalry between his two allies, putting off Iranian calls for an American pullout while balking at US pressure to take a tougher line against Tehran.

President Bush said he hoped al-Maliki's message to Tehran would be the same as the US message - that Iran should halt the export of sophisticated explosive devices used to attack US troops in Iraq or "there will be consequences."

The United States and Britain sought to expand the U.N. mandate in Iraq with a draft resolution facing a Security Council vote on Friday.

The sponsors had delayed the vote so that Iraq's prime minister could revise the text, which would authorize the world body to help the government promote national reconciliation, better relations with its neighbors and deal with humanitarian concerns.

The newly revised text was circulated to the Security Council and Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari sent a letter asking that the mandate of the UN mission, which expires Friday, be extended for a year - a requirement before the resolution can be adopted.

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