Cleric killed as Reid outlines pull-out plan

MASKED gunmen assassinated a Sunni Arab cleric who had headed the city council in once-restive Fallujah yesterday.

Meanwhile, two bombs exploded minutes apart near a central Baghdad square, killing at least seven people and wounding 20.

The US military said four marines died in explosions in western Iraq.

Meanwhile, British Defence Secretary John Reid spelled out the terms for the start of a British withdrawal from Iraq, saying there could be “significantly fewer” British troops there by next year.

Mr Reid stressed Britain would not “cut and run” from the country and made plain that four conditions had to be met before any withdrawal could begin.

But he said “the time is approaching” when coalition forces “can begin leaving Iraq”.

In Fallujah, Sheik Kamal Nazal was gunned down in a hail of gunfire from two passing cars as he walked to work, said Fallujah’s police chief, Brigadier Hudairi al-Janabi.

The motive for the attack was unknown, but appeared to be part of an insurgent campaign to prevent Sunni Arab leaders from joining the political process.

Iraq’s Sunni Arab insurgents have previously targeted Iraqis deemed as collaborating with the country’s US-backed authorities.

“Sheik Nazal was the first among those who carried weapons to protect government offices after the (US-led) invasion in 2003,” said Dr Salman al-Jumaili, a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party.

“We hold the Iraqi government and occupation forces responsible for bringing all this suffering and damage to this city,” he said.

In Baghdad, Iraqi security forces detained at least 26 suspected Sunni Arab insurgents planning to attack Shi’ite pilgrims during Ashoura commemorations, which climax tomorrow.

The first Baghdad bomb was in a plastic bag placed near a CD vendor’s stand close to the capital’s Tahrir Square by a man who fled seconds before the explosion, which killed at least three people, said police Captain Mohammed Abdul Ghani.

Ten minutes later, a second bomb hidden in a drain exploded, killing four, including a policeman, he said.

Mr Reid said Iraqis wanted foreign troops to leave “just as soon as the conditions are right”.

His comments came in a speech to the Foreign Press Association in London.

Britain has about 8,900 personnel stationed in Iraq, most based around Basra, controlling the south-east region of the country.

Mr Reid gave no figures for the number of troops who could be withdrawn over the next 10 months, nor a detailed timetable.

Britain is committed to sending an extra 3,300 personnel to Afghanistan this year but Mr Reid has already insisted that the mission does not require ‘draw-down’ from Iraq.