BAGHDAD, June 5 (AFP)
- 2h45 - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has called
on Kurdish regional deputies to set a democratic
example for the war-torn nation, while more
suspected insurgents were rounded up in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the judge who is to try Saddam Hussein
said the former dictator was becoming depressed as
his trial date approached.
Iraqi and US forces claimed anti-insurgent successes
for Operation Lightning, a tactically focused plan
to flush out fighters who have sown terror in
Baghdad with car bombs and drive-by shootings.
Talibani, Iraq's first Kurdish president, addressed
lawmakers at the inaugural session of their regional
parliament in the northern city of Arbil, urging
them to establish a democratic and federal system.
|
Photo: AFP |
|
"Your democratically elected parliament faces a
critical period in the history of Iraq," Talabani
said, speaking in Arabic.
"Our sacred task is to draft a permanent
constitution that guarantees equality for all of
Iraqi society," he said, reiterating that all ethnic
and religious groups were needed to draw up the
vital document that is to be put to a referendum in
October.
The first session of the assembly opened more than
four months after general elections, following talks
between Talabani and rival Kurdish leader Massoud
Barzani who was recently chosen as regional
president.
Iraqi Kurds are mostly Sunni Muslims, comprise
nearly 20 percent of the country's 26-million
population and believe strongly in a federal state.
Meanwhile, US Major Wes Wright told AFP that troops,
including some from his 3,000-man light infantry
brigade in southwestern Baghdad, had made 109
arrests on Saturday and 84 the day before.
He said a massive military presence was not apparent
in the city because a protective ring had been
thrown around it ahead of raids on "pinpoint
targets".
Many insurgents are believed to be Iraqi Sunnis who
lost power when US-led forces ousted Saddam in April
2003.
Almost 700 Iraqis were killed throughout the country
in May, while Iraqi authorities have given a figure
of nearly 900 insurgents detained and 28 killed in
the continuing operation in Baghdad.
Violence, however, also continued. Three Iraqi
soldiers were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in
Balad, north of Baghdad, and a policeman was shot
dead by unknown attackers in Samarra, further north.
Another Iraqi was killed in southwestern Baghdad and
his attackers later wounded two policemen by rigging
the victim's car with explosives, an interior
ministry source said.
And in the northern city of Mosul, a police officer
was shot by gunmen in a drive-by shooting, and a
suicide car bomber later killed two police and
wounded seven at a checkpoint on the road to Syria,
police sources said.
Judge Raed Juhi, who is to try Saddam, told the
Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that the
"ex-president's morale is low because he realises
the volume of accusations for which he will be
judged."
Saddam "is to appear before the Iraq Special
Tribunal in two months, as soon as the charges are
legally finalised," he said.
Saddam is being held by US forces at a base near
Baghdad along with 11 former high-ranking regime
members, on an array of charges of crimes against
humanity, including alleged use of chemical weapons
against the Kurds.
In other developments, a US-Iraqi operation
unearthed dozens of artifacts looted from Baghdad's
National Museum during the chaos which followed the
March 2003 US-led invasion. The haul was described
as "a treasure chest of Iraqi historical
significance."
And Iraqi Airways launched regular service between
Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, saying
flights to London would follow.
AFP
Top |
® 