| Ander Nieuws week 37 / nieuwe oorlog 2006 |
Agence France Presse
September 6, 2006
By Sabah Jerges
Iraq's dominant Shiite alliance submitted a draft of a new law to govern the division of the country into autonomous regions, as unabated violence left at least 18 people dead and the authorities said 27 "terrorists" had been executed.
"Twenty-seven terrorists were hanged today in Baghdad. Most of them were Iraqis," interior ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf told AFP.
He said they were convicted for attacks on civilians and sentenced to death, in an execution order signed by an Iraqi vice president.
Meanwhile British forces in the restive southern city of Basra said they would bring in hundreds of new troops to provide additional protection for reconstruction projects.
Iraq also announced that the ceremonial start of the handover of military command from US forces to domestic forces would take place Thursday after it was abruptly cancelled last Saturday.
The United Iraqi Alliance, the dominant Shiite parliamentary bloc, is promoting a "law of regional formation" so that the oil-rich Shiite southern Iraq can win self-rule on the model of the autonomous Kurdish north.
"The law will define how the regions are formed and whether it will be done by the governing council or through popular referendum," said party member Hamid Mualla al-Saadi.
Sunni lawmakers have vociferously opposed the draft law on autonomous regions, saying it is a prelude to a carve-up of the country, which would leave them with just the resources-poor center and west of Iraq.
But in recent days they appear to have softened their opposition, saying they would support the "administrative application of federalism" as long as a strong central government remains.
In Basra, British forces confirmed they were reinforcing their 7,200-strong force with 360 additional troops, primarily to beef up their presence during an upcoming troop rotation.
The additional troops, who include engineers and Royal Marine commandos, will then be held over for several more weeks to assist in reconstruction work.
Two British soldiers were killed on Monday by a roadside bomb while escorting a reconstruction unit north of Basra.
British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett visited Basra on her second day in Iraq and stressed that peace in the south depended a lot on Iraqi security forces and not just "the British and coalition troops".
At least 18 people were killed across the country in rebel attacks Wednesday.
Six Iraqis were killed and 46 more wounded in a pair of bombings at a bus stop in Baghdad during the morning rush-hour.
Six Iraqi border policemen were killed and another six wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the town of Sinjar near the Syrian border.
Elsewhere six Iraqis were killed, including a representative of Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
An officer in the oil protection force and his two bodyguards were kidnapped between Tikrit and Kirkuk, police said, while in the flashpoint Diyala province, Iraqi forces succeeded in rescuing three women abducted by gunmen.
Police also found 24 bodies of men shot dead in apparent sectarian-related killings, 19 of them in Baghdad.
Iraq's parliament, meanwhile, passed a law permitting private companies to import and distribute petroleum products, in a move that could end the country's severe fuel shortage.
Despite Iraq's massive oil reserves, the second largest in the world after Saudi Arabia, the country suffers from a severe shortage of refined products, including gasoline, and motorists often line up for hours at petrol stations.
Iraq also announced that it and the US military would sign a delayed accord Thursday under which coalition forces will hand command of Iraqi armed forces to the government.
The agreement was initially due to be signed on September 2, but the handover ceremony was abruptly cancelled after disagreements on the Iraqi side over who should sign on the government's behalf.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is now expected to name a senior official to sign the agreement.
The accord means setting up a joint military command for the Iraqi army, navy and air force that will gradually take full operational control of the forces, including 115,000 US-trained ground troops.
"If you go back and you map out some major events that have occurred in this government's formation and taking control of this country, tomorrow is gigantic," said coalition spokesman Major General William Caldwell.
"It's the one event that puts the prime minister directly in operational control of his military forces as his role as commander in chief."
On Thursday Maliki will gain command of the 8th Iraqi Army Division, stationed in Najaf, with two new divisions every month afterwards, Caldwell said. The Iraqi army has 10 divisions.
Copyright (c) 2006 Agence France Presse.
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