Iraq briefing | Today's key developments

An unprecedented weave of sectarian violence ripped through Iraq following the bombing of one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.

These were some of the major developments:

-- Gunmen killed 47 civilians and left their bodies in a ditch near Baghdad.At least 47 other bodies were found scattered across Iraq, many of them shot execution-style and dumped in Shiite-dominated parts of Baghdad.

-- Four soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. Three more soldiers were killed near Balad by another bomb. The U.S. death toll in the war now stands at 2,285.

-- A bomb targeting an Iraqi army foot patrol killed eight civilians and eight soldiers, and wounded another 11 civilians and four soldiers in Baquba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad.

-- The bodies of three Iraqi journalists, including Atwar Bahjat, a well-known correspondent for Al Arabiya television, were found near Samarra. They had been covering the bombing of the Askariya shrine.

-- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States and Israel for the destruction of a Shiite shrine's golden dome in Iraq, saying it was the work of "defeated Zionists and occupiers."

-- President George Bush said the bombing of the Askariya shrine was "an evil act" intended to create strife and urged calm.

-- A major Sunni Arab political party suspended talks with Shiites and Kurds over a new government until the national leadership apologizes for attacks on Sunni mosques in reprisal for the Askariya bombing.