Baghdad, Iraq ? A wave of bomb attacks and shootings swept Iraq on Sunday, killing dozens of people despite a massive security operation in the capital and appeals from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for an end to sectarian fighting.

Al-Maliki insisted that his government was making progress in combatting attacks by insurgents and sectarian clashes between Shiites and Sunnis.

“We’re not in a civil war. Iraq will never be in a civil war,” he said through an interpreter on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “The violence is in decrease and our security ability is increasing.”

The U.S. military command said two U.S. soldiers were killed – one by small-arms fire Sunday afternoon in eastern Baghdad, and the other on Saturday night when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb southeast of the capital.

As of Sunday, at least 2,623 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.