BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's president said Saturday that he had been assured that American troops will stay in his country as long as needed, while at least 14 people were killed in explosions and gunfire nationwide as vehicle restrictions were lifted in Baghdad.
A top U.S. general, meanwhile, said he was "very, very pleased" with the response of Iraqi armed forces in containing recent sectarian bloodshed, disputing critics who said too little was done to quell attacks that killed more than 500 people the past week.
Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, spent two days in Baghdad meeting with top Iraqi leaders after the Feb. 22 bombing of a golden-domed Shiite shrine in Samarra triggered reprisal attacks against Sunnis that pushed the country to the brink of civil war.
Iraqi security forces blunted the sectarian killing with an extraordinary daytime curfew in four flashpoint provinces last weekend, followed by a driving ban in Baghdad on Friday.
But with the ban lifted on Saturday, violence resumed, with a bomb exploding at a bus terminal in southeastern Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 25.
Abizaid said he was "very, very pleased with the reaction of the Iraqi armed forces during the aftermath of the bombing in Samarra."
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