Assassination, attacks overshadow Iraq political talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-26 08:31

Insurgents assassinated a senior Iraqi army commander Friday and staged two suicide car bombings, killing 15 people, in violence that politicians fear may deepen if a new government is not formed soon.

Almost two months after an election, politicians from Iraq's main parties, the Shi'ite alliance and the Kurds, pursued talks to form a government but were squabbling over top cabinet posts.

Members of the Iraqi Facilities Protection Service (FPS), viewed through a shattered windshield of a vehicle, survey the damage at the scene of a firefight in the town of Rabia in northern Iraq March 25, 2005. Members of the Kurdish Peshmerga militia opened fire at nearby FPS forces after they came under a roadside bomb attack, sparking a firefight, which led to the death of five policemen and two FPS members on Thursday night in Rabia, according to police sources.[Reuters]

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a key Kurdish negotiator, said Iraq's new parliament would meet for the second time Tuesday and would name key officials in the new cabinet.

Officials had earlier hoped to strike a deal in time for parliament to meet by Sunday, but agreement has proved elusive. The Shi'ite Islamist bloc that came top in the polls and the Kurdish coalition that came second have been so far unable to agree on a new government, nearly two months after the polls.

Many Iraqis who defied insurgent violence to vote in the historic Jan. 30 elections say they are increasingly angry at the failure of politicians to agree. And as talks draw on, insurgents have continued their attacks.

Gunmen shot dead Major-General Suleiman Mohammad, who commanded a National Guard division in southern Iraq, in the New Baghdad district of the capital, and wounded two of his sons.

Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said it killed Mohammad, according to an Internet statement. Al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq said five of the officer's bodyguards and entourage were also killed or wounded in the attack.

Suicide car bombers also mounted two attacks in Iraq, killing at least 15 people and wounding 23.

In an attack in Iskandariya, in a lawless area just south of Baghdad, a bomber blew up his car beside an Iraqi army convoy, killing four soldiers and wounding nine troops and civilians, two seriously, local police said.

A suicide bomber blew up his car at a checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi Thursday, killing 11 Iraqi commandos and wounding nine police, two U.S. soldiers and three civilians, the U.S. military said.

The Islamic Army in Iraq said it was behind the Ramadi attack in an Internet statement.

"A martyrdom-seeker of the Army broke through the first barrier set up by the American enemy and the pagan (National) Guard ... and the car exploded as it neared the second barrier," the insurgent group said in the statement.

In another violent assault, five women, four of whom worked at a U.S. military base, were found dead in a car in Baghdad. Those working for U.S. forces, including cooks, laundry staff and translators, are frequently targeted by insurgents.

TALKS STUMBLE ON

Iraqi officials said talks on forming the new government, whose overwhelming priority will be tackling the country's relentless insurgency, were moving forward, albeit slowly.

Politicians were focused on trying to resolve differences over who would take the main government portfolios.

"There is a justified point of view that says the political process is taking a long time but at the same time we don't want to be in a hurry at the expense of this country's future," Salih told Reuters.

"We have big security and economy problems and we are looking for total national unity.

"The main challenge for us is to build a country that can face terrorism and also the economic challenges," he said.

He added parliament would convene again at 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) Tuesday. Officials had previously hoped that parliament could meet by Sunday. The parliament has met once already, but with no government the meeting was purely symbolic.

One of the key issues in the talks has been the status of Kurdish peshmerga militiamen and whether they should, as the Shi'ites want, be absorbed into the Iraqi armed forces.

Thursday, the Kurdish peshmerga and local Arab police engaged in a gunbattle in northern Iraq, highlighting the deep division and suspicion between the two sides.

At least five policemen and two security guards were killed in the fight near the town of Rabia after peshmerga fighters stormed a grain silo building believing the guards there were behind a roadside bomb attack that hit their convoy.

Lieutenant-Colonel Yahia Hamid said the peshmerga had shot guards at the silo and then detained all inside. He arrived with other police to end the incident, but the peshmerga attacked the new arrivals.

"I identified myself but the peshmerga wouldn't listen and started screaming at us and then gunfire broke out," he said.

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