He controlled a network of media organizations, including Babil, the most influential newspaper in the country.
By its reports on national issues, Babil said, it could present "the best living example of freedom".
And in Babil province, south of the Iraqi capital, another bus station bombing killed five and wounded 10.
"The achievement in Babil Province means that now fully two-thirds of Iraq's provinces have assumed security responsibility, " the statement said.
Working with local government and military officials, they have demonstrated their readiness to assume responsibility for the provincial security of Babil.
Authorities in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad, enforced a curfew.
At least four people were killed and 76 were wounded Thursday in a string of bombings in Babil province, according to the Iraqi government.
In another sign of change, Babil, the Iraqi newspaper published by Saddam Hussein's son Uday, has now resumed publication following a month-long ban in mid-November.
U.S. forces nicknamed northern Babil and surrounding areas the 'Triangle of Death' due to the amount of combat the area experienced earlier in the Iraq war.
In a long article commenting on its suspension, Babil criticised the "stereotyped" Iraqi press which it accused of imposing a "total blackout on news, information and analysis".
After recent deadly fighting between the Shiite rivals Mehdi Army and Badr Organization last week in Karbala, Baghdad, and Babil province, al-Sadr announced he was suspending the militia operations and restructuring the group.
Tom Timberman, who heads one of the reconstruction teams, is based 40 miles south of Baghdad, where the State Department has set up a sort of "mini Green Zone" a large, heavily fortified regional embassy that houses foreign service officers charged with overseeing development in the key regions of Babil, Najaf and Karbala.
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