Bush is outright lying to the American people when he says things are
going well in Iraq.
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Deadly sectarian attacks hit Iraq
Saturday 25 March 2006, 11:11 Makka Time, 8:11 GMT
Sectarian violence has been on the rise since February 22
A bombing outside an Iraqi mosque has left at least five Iraqis dead and
17 wounded, while the bodies of 15 more apparent victims of sectarian
violence have been found in different parts of Baghdad.
The latest bombing came as the Sunni Muslim worshippers were leaving the
Saad Ibn Abi Wakkas mosque in Khalis, 80km from the capital, after
Friday prayers.
Another Sunni Muslim, in the southern port city of Basra, was shot dead
by unidentified men, also on leaving a mosque after prayers.
Sectarian violence has been on the rise in Iraq since February 22 when a
bomb destroyed a revered Shia shrine in Samarra, north of the capital.
Hundreds have since been murdered in tit-for-tat killings.
In Baghdad, where bodies are now found on a daily basis, 15 corpses
were picked up on Friday, 12 in the east and northeast of the city, and
three in the west, an Interior Mministry official said. They had been
tortured and shot.
In the week of March 11 to 17, US forces tracked 58 such incidents,
involving 134 dead, in the capital alone, according to US Major-General
Rick Lynch, who described the killings as "ethnic-sectarian".
Policemen killed
In other violence on Friday, seven people, three of them policemen, were
killed in the capital.
Armed men raided a baker's shop in the south of the capital, shooting
dead four employees and wounding a fifth. When police arrived on the
scene, a roadside bomb exploded, killing one police officer and wounding
another.
Iraqi Shia worshippers protest on
Thursday after a deadly attack
Assailants also ambushed police in the west of the city, shooting dead
two and wounding one.
Two US soldiers were killed in combat in Iraq's Anbar province, the US
military reported on Friday. The statement said the soldiers, assigned
to the 2/28th Brigade Combat Team, were killed on Thursday.
Their names were withheld until relatives were notified. The deaths
raised to at least 2320 the number of US military personnel who have
died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count.
In Copenhagen, the Danish military announced that a Danish soldier had
been killed and another slightly wounded on Thursday by a bomb attack on
their patrol near the town of Al Harta in southern Iraq.
This was the third killing of a Danish soldier in Iraq since August 2003.
Political progress?
Iraq's president issued a highly optimistic report on Friday on progress
among politicians trying to hammer out the shape of a new unity governmen.
Jalal Talabani said the government could be in place for parliamentary
approval by the end of the month, but acknowledged "I am usually a very
optimistic person".
He spoke to reporters after a fifth round of multi-party talks among the
country's highly polaris ed political factions.
Iraqi police recruits are a regular
target of attack by fighters
Talabani said politicians had agreed on Friday to a method for choosing
the government.
Fellow Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman said the high-level talks
resumed and took up a 28-point political statement that would outline
the programme of any new government, once formed.
Another negotiating session was set for Saturday, he said.
The political talks resumed as some among the politicians floated
suggestions that the Shia bloc would seek a way out of the impasse over
Ibrahim al-Jafaari, the prime minister, by naming three candidates for
the premiership, politicians and officials close to the talks said on
Thursday, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive juncture in
the negotiations.
Among the names suggested for the post is that of Qassim Dawoud, a
former national security adviser. Dawoud told The Associated Press,
however, he had not heard such a suggestion.
Hostages depart
In the capital, British peace activist Norman Kember, 74, held hostage
for four months by Iraqi kidnappers, began his journey home on Friday
when he boarded a British military transport, said Christian Peacemakers
Teams spokeswoman Peggy Gish said.
Fellow hostages Harmeet Singh Sooden, 33, and James Loney, 41, Canadians
kidnapped with Kember, would be leaving the country this weekend.
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