While the world's eyes are on the war with Iraq, violence in Cincinnati this week claimed more victims.

If this trend continues, the city will break a 15-year high set last year for homicides. This time last year, there were 13 killings in the city. There have been 20 so far this year. Such a record is not welcome anytime, but the violence seems especially senseless now, while young men and women are off risking their lives in a foreign land against a murderous tyrant. Surely we should be able to eliminate deadly hatreds in our own streets if we can go halfway around the world to combat it.

Violent crime, or even the threat of it, undermines any city that wants to attract residents, business and industry. In areas like Over-the-Rhine, which has promising plans to revitalize businesses and homes, these acts are poison.

While police often link street shootings to the corrosive local drug trade, these killings have far-reaching residual effects. No citizen is safe from stray bullets, and people who feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods cannot be expected to take pride in the community.

The most recent shootings occurred at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday near popular Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine. Two people were killed and one other was wounded. As many as seven gunshots were heard by neighbors.

On Wednesday, in the middle of the day, an 81-year-old woman was killed in her Covedale apartment after she walked from a local store. Witnesses say they believe a suspect followed her home.

In recent months, the Cincinnati Police Department has developed new strategies that are less-reactive, including having patrol officers and detectives collaborate. Officers are partnering with residents to identify drug dealers and trouble spots.

Such initiatives must continue. Citizens are the first line of defense against crime, and they need to continue to help police in the fight. And police must continue to be vigilant and aggressive in rooting out bad guys.

The violence in our streets is a form of terrorism that is as intolerable as that which we fight abroad.