|
Sunni Arabs urged 'No' vote in referendum
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-08 19:19
Politicians in Saddam Hussein's hometown urged Sunni
Arabs to vote "no" in next week's constitutional referendum and insurgents
killed one Iraqi and injured 10 with roadside bombs and drive-by shootings on
Saturday.
Iraqi Sunnis, seen through barbed wire, carry
the coffin of one of the men found dead last month in eastern Iraq,
apparently executed, during the funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Oct. 7
2005. The 22 bodies, found blindfolded and bound, were identified as Iraqi
Sunnis and returned to their families. [AP]
|
On Friday, six Marines were killed by bombs as the U.S. military announced it
had completed a major sweep in western Iraq aimed at suppressing al-Qaida
militants before the constitutional vote.
The military said 50 insurgents were killed in the six-day Iron Fist
offensive, launched Oct. 1 in towns near the Syrian border. The operation, which
ended on Thursday, was the first in a series of major offensives in the past
week in the heartland of the Sunni-led insurgency.
U.S. forces have swept through the area before — most recently in May. But
militants have always returned, bringing in foreigners from Syria and planning
attacks in other parts of the country. The military said they now plan to
maintain a long-term presence there.
The military has said it will wrap up the operations in time for Sunni Arabs
in the region to vote in the Oct. 15 referendum.
But two other U.S. and Iraqi offensives — River Gate and Mountaineers — were
still under way in Anbar province, a Sunni-led insurgency stronghold where
Operation Iron Fist was also conducted. The area stretches along the Euphrates
River valley, which runs from the Syrian border to the city of Ramadi, about 70
miles west of Baghdad.
A third offensive, Operation Saratoga, recently began in northern Iraq to
improve safety in towns such as Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah.
In River Gate, 2,500 U.S. troops and hundreds of Iraqi soldiers have been
sweeping through the towns of Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Parwana. On Saturday smoke
was seen billowing from some Haditha houses as U.S helicopters flew overhead and
machine gun fire rang out.
Seven days before Iraqis were to approve or reject the draft constitution,
most were still waiting for copies of it to read. Distribution began in a few
Baghdad neighborhoods, but did not appear to have spread to many other areas.
If two-thirds of the voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces vote "no,"
the referendum fails and Iraq's parliament must be dissolved and replaced in
another election. Four of the country's provinces have Sunni majorities.
Last month, the Iraqi Islamic Party, country's largest
Sunni political organization, urged Iraqis to reject the constitution, saying it
threatened "national unity and the identity of Iraqi people."
|
