IRAQ: Dispatches from Babil province

The Times' trusty correspondent in Hillah, south of Baghdad in Babil province (which is Arabic for Babylon and the namesake of this blog), supplies us regularly with notes about the security and governing challenges in what was once one of Iraq's most troubled regions.

Earlier this week, a suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of Shiite pilgrims. Officials at the Hillah Health Dept. upped the death toll from 43 to 61 in the devastating attack. Almost 100 people were also injured by the bombing near the town of Iskandariya.

But this was unusual. These days, the problems in the area are more humdrum. Local officials in the Imam district informed our stringer (whom we can't name for security reasons) that a long-anticipated new bridge can't be completed because of an architectural defect in its foundation. An official also said that the bridge is being built in the wrong place, "because it is near another adjacent bridge and does not help in the transport of civilians at all.”

The province struggles to make ends meet. Nasser Abdul Jabbar, director of the local center to help displaced people, told our stringer his department will start paying $115 per month to 3,650 families resettling in the province to escape sectarian violence.

A smattering of bloodshed continues daily. On Friday, a roadside bomb targeting a passing security patrol hurt three people. On Wednesday, authorities discovered the body of an unidentified man.

It could be worse. Police this week arrested dozens of suspected Al Qaeda operatives in the area, uncovering 10 plastic containers loaded with ammunition and guns.

— Borzou Daragahi in Baghdad

Photo: Shiite and Sunni tribal leaders attend a conference south of Baghdad in January. Credit: EPA/Alaa Al-Shemaree