Iraq's top leaders vowed Sunday to hunt down those involved in Thursday's multiple car bombings in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood that killed more than 200 Iraqis.

"We promise the martyrs that we will run after the killers and criminals, the terrorists, Saddamists and Takfiri (Sunni extremists) for their evil attempts to divide our country," the leaders said in a statement which was read out by the government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

For his part, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged the Iraqi politicians to stop their public disputes in a bid to curb the sectarian fray engulfing the country.

Maliki made the remarks after meeting with President Jalal Talabani, the parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and other members of Iraq's Political Council for National Security for the third day to discuss Iraq's security crisis.

"The crisis is political, and the politicians must try to prevent more violence and bloodletting. The terrorist acts are a reflection of the lack of political agreement," Maliki said.

"If they can be aware of the truth that there is no winner or loser in this battle, they can rescue Iraq," he added.

Maliki also vowed to take further measures to stop bloodshed, saying that "we are about to form a front to face those people who are against the will of the Iraqi people."

A series of coordinated bombings in Sadr city, a Shiite militia stronghold in eastern Baghdad, killed more than 200 people and wounded 250 others on Thursday, becoming the most devastating bombings since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2006)