CBS News | Day's Iraq Death Toll Tops 130 | January 5, 2006?16:22:32

CBS News Day's Iraq Death Toll Tops 130 January 5, 2006?16:22:32: "Day's Iraq Death Toll Tops 130

Jan. 5, 2006

Relatives indentify an infant victim in a suicide bomb attack, outside of the hospital in Karbala, Iraq, Jan. 5, 2006. (CBS/AP)

Fast Facts

'This is a criminal act against faithful pilgrims. The terrorists are targeting the Shiites.'

Mohammed Saheb, Shiite pilgrim in Karbala

(CBS/AP) Suicide bombers infiltrated a line of police recruits and a crowd of Shiite pilgrims Thursday as insurgents killed 125 civilians and five U.S. soldiers, escalating their fight as political groups worked to forge a coalition government.

The two-day toll from insurgent attacks rose to 183, reflecting a dramatic upsurge in bloodshed following the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections. Some leading Sunni politicians accuse the Shiite-led government of condoning fraud in the voting.

Iraq's prime minister denounced the violence as an attempt to derail the political process at a time when progress was being made toward including the Sunnis in a new, broad-based government and thereby weakening the Sunni-led insurgency. "