A SURGE in bloodshed left nearly 50 people dead in a suicide car bombing and clashes between Shi’ite militia and Iraqi security forces yesterday.

Shiite militiamen drove back Iraqi forces in a city south of Baghdad today in fierce street fighting that killed 40 people.

A surge in bloodshed left nearly 50 people dead in a suicide car bombing and clashes between Shiite militia and Iraqi security forces today, in a brutal contradiction of the prime minister’s claim that violence was decreasing.