The top U.S. officials in Iraq are urging Iraqis not to be drawn into an upsurge of sectarian violence.
In a statement Monday, General George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad condemned recent car bombings and revenge killings in Baghdad.
The statement urges Iraqis not to strike back and be used by those who seek to destroy the country.
In the latest violence, an Iraqi radio journalist Nabil Ibrahim al-Dulaimi was gunned down outside his home in northwest Baghdad.
The U.S. military says four Marines died when a military helicopter made an emergency landing Sunday into water in western Iraq.
Three Marines had been listed as missing, but their bodies have now been recovered.
A military statement says the incident, in Anbar province, does not appear to be a result of enemy action.
In Washington today, President Bush is to meet an influential Iraqi Shi'ite for talks on how to reduce the sectarian violence in Iraq.
Abdel Aziz al-Hakim is the leader of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the largest factions in the Iraqi government.
Hakim does not hold a ministerial post. But, he has considerable influence because of his party's military wing, the Badr Brigade, which has thousands of men.
