Smoke is seen rising from the explosion site near a Shiite mosque, Baghdad, July 9, 2006.  (Xinhua Photo)

Nearly 60 people were killed in a series of tit-for-tat attacks between Shiites and Sunnis in Baghdad on Sunday, raising fears that unabated sectarian violence will drag Iraq toward an all-out civil war.

Shiite militia and gunmen wearing police commando uniforms attacked a Sunni Arab residential area in the al-Jihad neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing up to 40, including women and children, Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

Dozens of Mehdi militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr set up checkpoints and stormed houses, killing more than 50 people, the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television reported.

The gruesome attack came in revenge for Saturday's bombing against a Shiite mosque in the area, the report said.

In an apparent reprisal to the massacre, 19 people were killed and 59 others wounded in twin car bombings near a Shiite mosque in northeastern Baghdad on Sunday evening, Interior Ministry source said.

The two explosive-laden cars went off near a Shiite mosque in Qasra neighborhood in the Sunni-dominated Adhamiyah district.

Xinhua correspondents heard two loud explosions in quick succession and saw plumes of black smoke billowing from the scene.

The bloodshed was expected to add more pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to disband Shiite militia as part of his national reconciliation plan submitted to parliament on June 25 in a bid to curb the Sunni-led insurgency and sectarian violence in this war-torn country.

Maliki has also launched a massive security crackdown in Baghdad since Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed in a US air strike on June 7 near the restive city of Baquba, north of Baghdad.

In another development, three U.S. soldiers were indicted in connection with the rape and murder of an Iraqi woman and the killing of three of her family members on March 12 south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

Another soldier was charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the case.

Last week, an ex-soldier, Steven D. Green, was already charged with rape and murder in a U.S. civilian court in the same case.

Editor: Yan