BEIJING, May 30 -- Two of Iraq's most influential Shiite and Sunni organizations agreed to try to ease sectarian tensions pushing the country toward civil war as the government prepared to take its battle against the insurgency to Baghdad's streets.

    The new effort to make peace came Saturday as attacks killed two U.S. troops and at least 50 Iraqis since Friday, including 10 people returning from a religious pilgrimage in Syria whose bodies were left in the border city of Qaim. A Sunday suicide car bomb attack near the northern city of Kirkuk killed two and wounded nine.

    In an Internet message, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq on Saturday launched a tirade against Shiites, accusing them of targeting Islam and especially Sunni Muslims in what appeared to be an attempt to stoke hatreds and sectarian violence.

    Meanwhile, Iraqi police and army units launched a crackdown Sunday in Baghdad.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies)