attacks against Shi'ites. Most Iraqis hoped his death will help ease sectarian bloodshed, much of which was masterminded by him. July July 1 – Attacks in the Shi'ite slum of Sadr City in Baghdad killed 66 people. July 9 – Shia gunmen allegedly massacred 40 Sunni Muslims in Baghdad after setting up fake security checkpoints a day after the Shi'ite Zahra mosque in the area was bombed. July 16 – An Iraqi general claims that a suicide bombing in a Shiite cafe in northern Iraq has killed 25 people. July 17 – British troops from the Brigade Reconnaissance Company of 20th Armoured Brigade, spearheaded by the SAS's HATHOR detachment captured Sajjad Badr Adal Sayeed, the leader of the Mahdi Army, in a raid on a building in Basra. Mahdi Army militia soon engaged the strike force cordon with assault rifles and RPGs, the engagement lasted for 2 hours resulting in 1 British soldier killed and at least 4 militiaman killed. July 18 – A car bomb killed 53 people in the holy Shi'ite city of Kufa. In July 2006, Baghdad's central morgue received 1,855 bodies, the most since the bombing of a Shia shrine in February prompted a wave of sectarian killings. The Iraqi government stated that 3,438 Iraqis died around the country that month. August August – 70 Americans were killed in Iraq, 32 of them in Al Anbar province. August 20 – Sunni snipers shot and killed at least 22 Shiites during a pilgrimage in Baghdad. September September 11 – The Washington Post reported that the commander of the Marine forces in Iraq filed "an unusual secret report" concluding that the prospects for securing the Anbar province are dim, and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there. September 27 – A WPO poll found that seven out of ten Iraqis want U.S.-led forces to withdraw from Iraq within one year. The perception that the U.S. presence in Iraq has a negative impact on security is widespread and is given some support by the British withdrawal from Basra which led to a 90% reduction in violence. Overall, 78% of those polled said they believed that the presence of U.S. forces is "provoking more conflict than it's preventing." 53% of those polled believed the Iraqi government would be strengthened if U.S. forces left Iraq (versus 23% who believed it