Baghdad recovers after snipers attack pilgrims

Baghdad was busy today after a two-day lockdown during a Shiite religious commemoration that was disrupted by sniper attacks on pilgrims in another spasm of sectarian bloodletting.

The government said 20 people were killed by the snipers who hid in buildings and sprayed bullets into Shiite religious processions yesterday. The US military, however, claimed only five people were killed. The discrepancy in the toll could not be immediately reconciled.