IRAQ: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki press conference says ready to tackle illegal militias; U.S. airstrike kills 5 in Sadr City, Baghdad; Car bomb in Baghdad kills two, wounds 11.

Iraq's Shi'ite prime minister pledged on Wednesday (October 25) to crack down on illegal militias but he criticised a U.S. air strike and overnight raid on a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad that killed at least four people. A day after U.S. officials had assured Americans voting in congressional elections next month that he agreed "timelines" to help end sectarian militia violence, Nuri al-Maliki used his own news conference to dismiss talk of any "timetable" for action. The U.S. military said Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. air strikes conducted the raid in Sadr City "to capture a top illegal armed group commander directing widespread death squad activity". Unusually, the U.S. statement specifically said the raid was "authorised by the government of Iraq". "We have given our military and security forces instructions to deal with any illegitimate and illegal military appearances," al-Maliki said in news conference. But Maliki, who is under mounting pressure from an impatient Washington to curb violence so U.S. forces can start to go home, said there was a "lack of co-ordination" in the raid. The Interior Ministry said four people were killed and 20 wounded. Residents said the dead included two Mehdi Army militiamen loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a powerful force behind Maliki's national unity government. Asked if the raid marked the start of a crackdown, he said it was not, and he hoped it was the start of a reconciliation. "The main reason of what happened in Sadr city and the other areas was a lack of co-ordination between our military forces and the Multi national Forces. This are one of the topics that we are discussing so that we can find the best means of co-ordination to put everything under control," Maliki said. In a sign of challenges Iraqi leaders face in achieving "benchmarks" agreed with an impatient U.S. administration, Maliki was the object of anger in the sprawling Sadr City slum. Hundreds of residents of the sprawling Shi'ite neighbourhood of Sadr city participated on Wednesday in the funeral of people who were killed during the US and Iraqi forces overnight raid in the city. Chanting anti US and Israeli slogans, the mourners walked in funeral procession of the five people were killed in the raid. October is already the deadliest month this year for U.S. troops in Iraq, with nearly 90 killed, boosting domestic pressure on Bush before congressional elections in two weeks. On Tuesday (October 24), a car bomb exploded close to civilians in the mixed district of al-Hurriya of north-western Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 11, police said. Iraq has been gripped by sectarian bloodletting since the bombing of a revered Shi'ite shrine in February. The United Nations estimates 100 Iraqis die every day in violence that Iraqi and U.S. officials fear could descend into civil war. Maliki has struggled to balance the conflicting demands of his Shi'ite-led coalition government. Sectarian and militia violence has escalated, raising fears of a full-scale civil war. Six months after Maliki took office, with vital support from Sadr, he has made little headway on pledges to curb militias. Also, the search for the missing soldier revived memories of the kidnapping in June of two U.S. soldiers near Yusufiya, an al Qaeda stronghold south of Baghdad, in an ambush. Their bodies were later found badly mutilated. It was not immediately clear if there was any connection to the hunt for a U.S. soldier of Iraqi descent who went missing on Monday when he left the safety of Baghdad's fortified Green Zone to visit relatives. Iraq's government was under pressure from Washington on Wednesday to take forceful action to meet a timetable of measures over the next year to curb violence and allow U.S. troops to go home.

ITN Source | October 25, 2006

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