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ARBIL,
Iraq, June 4 (AFP) - 12h23 - Iraq's Kurdish
Autonomous Region parliament on Saturday opened its
first session in the northern city of Arbil, an AFP
correspondent reported, more than four months after
general elections.
The session began without Iraq's Shiite Prime
Minister Ibrahim Jaafari but was attended by Iraq's
first Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, and
National Parliament Speaker Hajem al-Hassani, a
Sunni Arab.
Also attending was Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani,
who was recently chosen as the autonomous region's
president although he has yet to be sworn in.
The 111-member parliament began its session with
Koranic recitations read under a massive portrait of
Mullah Mustafa Barzani, the father of Kurdish
nationalism, which was framed between large red,
white, yellow and green Kurdish flags.
The vast majority of Iraqi Kurds are Sunni Muslims.
Several Kurdish flags hung elsewhere in the room,
while the Iraqi flag was absent from the parliament
building in Arbil, 350 kilometers (220 miles) north
of Baghdad.
Iraq includes the three Kurdish provinces of
Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Dohuk.
Talabani heads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
party, while Barzani leads the rival Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP), two groups that have
effectively ruled the Kurdish part of northern Iraq
outside Baghdad's control since the end of the Gulf
War in 1991.
MPs began taking an oath of allegiance before they
were to designate a speaker and deputy speaker.
The parliament was due to hold its first session in
April, but that was delayed following disagreement
between Barzani and Talabani over who would be the
region's president.
The rival groups finally agreed on Sunday that
Barzani should take the post.
The KDP and PUK also have 75 members in Iraq's
national parliament, more than one-quarter of the
275-member body.
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Authorities in Baghdad meanwhile hailed the
continued sucess of Operation Lightning, designed to
snare insurgents in the city, saying that more
rebels had been detained and arms caches seized.
"The Iraqi Army is proving each day that their
performance and ability to coordinate operations is
improving," said Captain Brendan Hobbs.
"They are able to execute their tasks and accomplish
all of their assigned missions," he said adding that
coalition forces were providing a "supportive" role
in the operation.
Iraqi forces detained 12 suspected insurgents,
including "a terrorist cell financier" in an
operation on Thursday, the US military said.
American troops taking part in the sweep uncovered a
massive arms cache south of the capital, including
over 50 artillery rounds that could be used as
roadside bombs along with dozens of mortar shells,
rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.
Violence killed almost 700 Iraqis throughout the
country in May, while Iraqi authorities said earlier
that more than 700 insurgents had been detained and
28 killed in Operation Lightning so far.
Up to 40,000 army troops and police personnel were
to take part in the sweep, but were not in clear
evidence in Baghdad's streets.
The US military said that the Baghdad Medical City
complex had been hit by a mortar round on Friday,
after which militants sprayed the hospital with
gunfire, killing one Iraqi.
Another Iraqi was killed as he drove his car in
southwestern Baghdad early Saturday, with his
attackers later wounding two policemen after they
rigged the victim's car with explosives, an interior
ministry source said.
A joint US-Iraqi operation also unearthed dozens of
artifacts looted from Baghdad's National Museum
during the chaos following the March 2003 US-led
invasion.
The US military described the haul as "a treasure
chest of Iraqi historical significance."
Thousands of priceless items disappeared from the
museum, although about half of those are believed to
have been recovered.
Renovation work on a key electric sub-station in
Baghdad has been completed, the US military said,
laying a base from which to extend the capital's
crumbling power grid.
Since the station does not produce electricity or
deliver it directly to people's homes, residents
will not immediately see a difference, but the work
prefigures rewiring of individual residences.
AFP
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