Iraq death toll climbs

Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders today called for an end to Iraq’s sectarian conflict and vowed to track down those responsible for the war’s deadliest attack.

But as they spoke in an effort to keep Iraq from sliding into an all-out civil war, fierce fighting between Iraqi security forces and Sunni-Arab insurgents raged for a second day in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province north of Baghdad.