The discovery of close to 50 mutilated bodies revived fears of a communal flare-up yesterday, a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to encourage Iraq's embattled government.
Four Iraqi soldiers, two civilians and six insurgents were also killed in fresh attacks yesterday, as a wave of violence which has left more than 400 dead already this month showed no sign of letting up.
The soldiers were killed in a bait-and-ambush attack in Khan Bani Saad, 40km north of Baghdad.
PHOTO: AFP
Insurgents injured three soldiers by firing mortar shells on an Iraqi army base there and then blew up the patrol sent out in pursuit, an army officer told reporters.
Two civilians were also killed in Baghdad in the explosion of a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi military convoy. Security forces hit back with a raid in the same neighborhood, killing two insurgents and seizing weapons.
The restive southern Baghdad district was also the scene of an assassination attempt against an Iraqi army general. His bodyguards killed four of the attackers and he survived the attack, which came four days after another top general was gunned down in front of his home.
The all-out onslaught against the fledgling force's top brass and rank-and-file coincided with the inauguration of the Iraqi ground forces' first command headquarters in Baghdad.
On an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday, Rice nevertheless praised the security forces for their progress in taking charge of the crackdown against the bloody Sunni Arab insurgency.
She also gave Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari a vote of confidence and insisted the war-torn country was on the right track.
"We were impressed with your leadership of this democratically elected government and we know that you will be a strong leader," Rice said after meeting Jaafari.
Rice counseled the need for patience to resolve the persistent crisis in the battered country, two years after the ouster of former president Saddam Hussein.
"Iraq is emerging from a long national nightmare of tyranny into freedom," said Rice, on her first visit to Iraq and the first by a senior US official since Jaafari took office.
Iraq's new Shiite-led Cabinet was finally approved on May 8, replacing Iyad Allawi's US-appointed administration more than three months after landmark polls.
Rice nevertheless urged the government to involve more Sunnis in the drafting of the country's permanent constitution, which is due to be completed by Aug. 15.
"What's really important here is that when they sit down to work on this constitution, that all Iraqis believe that their interests are going to be represented," she said.
The recently-formed parliamentary committee tasked with writing the new basic law counts 55 members, only two of whom are from the disempowered Sunni Arab community.
Jaafari echoed Rice's comments, saying, "We will try to find ways to have bigger Sunni participation."
The Sunnis, many of whom boycotted the Jan. 30 elections and whose inclusion in the government line-up was the subject of protracted and bitter haggling, want a timetable for a withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq. They welcomed Rice's comments.
"The declaration is very positive because it calls for the participation of all Iraqis," the Iraqi parliament's Sunni speaker, Hajem Hassani, told reporters.
"Her call is positive. Everybody should know the importance of Sunni participation not only in drafting the constitution but also in maintaining stability and unity in Iraq," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, who heads the Sunni waqf, or religious endowment.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
RSS