WORLD / Middle East
Iraqis call for end to sectarian killing
(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-27 08:35
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders called Sunday for an
end to Iraq's sectarian conflict and vowed to track down those
responsible for the war's deadliest attack.
A Shi'ite Iraqi al-Mahdi army militiaman, affiliated to Shi'ite firebrand
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, stands guard in a cemetery in the holy city of
Najaf, central Iraq. [AFP]
But as they went on national television to try to keep Iraq from sliding
into an all-out civil war, fighting between Iraqi security forces and
Sunni Arab insurgents raged for a second day in Baqouba, the capital of
Diyala province north of Baghdad.
By the end of the day, the province's latest casualty figures were a
microcosm of the brutality in Iraq: 17 insurgents killed, 15 detained, 20
civilians kidnapped and three bodies found. The mayor of a municipality
also narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that killed one of his
guards and wounded three.
During Saturday's fighting in Baqouba, police killed at least 36
insurgents and wounded dozens after scores of militants armed with
assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attacked government
buildings in the city center, police said. The fighting raged for hours
in the city, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Also Saturday, a US soldier was killed and two were wounded when a
roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Diyala province, the
military said.
Officials including Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obaidi and Gen.
George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, decided Saturday to fire
Diyala's police commander, saying he was unable to stop infiltration of
the force by Sunni insurgents, two Iraqi officials said on condition of
anonymity as is often the case in areas subjected to widespread fighting
and revenge killings.
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One of the main challenges for US-led forces in recruiting and training
Iraqi military and police forces is that they are often infiltrated by
insurgents who kill and kidnap in disguise.
"We promise the great martyrs that we will chase the killers and
criminals, the terrorists, Saddamists and Takfiri (Sunni extremists) for
viciously trying to divide you," Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,
Sunni Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and Kurdish President
Jalal Talabani said in their joint statement on state-run TV.
In addressing "the great martyrs," they were referring to the 215 people
who died when suspected Sunni insurgents attacked Sadr City, the
capital's main Shiite district, on Thursday.
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