Iraqi PM urges Syria to secure border

IRAQI Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said yesterday that foreign fighters regularly slip into Iraq from Syria and called on authorities there to do more to stop them as five US troops were killed.

Meanwhile, it was reported that a top-level aide to Saddam Hussein has died. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri has been at large since Saddam was ousted.

After Saddam was captured, al-Douri became the most-wanted Iraqi still at large, and a $10 million (€8.5 million) bounty was placed on his head. The number six in the US most-wanted list is also believed to have had a role in the insurgency in Iraq.

Two US soldiers from the 3rd Corps Support Command died in a traffic accident yesterday north-west of Kirkuk.

Another two US soldiers died after being hit by small arms fire on Thursday in Khaldiyah, 75 miles west of Baghdad. The soldiers were part of a unit detailed to the 2nd Marine Division.

In a separate incident along the Syrian border, a US Marine also assigned to the 2nd Marine Division was killed Thursday by a roadside bomb in Karabilah, 200 miles west of Baghdad.

The marine died in Operation Steel Curtain, a major push to take control of the Syrian border.

As of yesterday, at least 2,061 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.

At least 1,604 died as a result of hostile action, including five military civilians.

After a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Baghdad, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said it was “no secret” that foreign fighters slip into Iraq by way of Syria, the main reason for Operation Steel Curtain.

“We demand they control their borders, prevent infiltration and terrorism. We want good relations with Syria, but this cannot be achieved with the existence of such violations,” Mr al-Jaafari said.

Mr Al-Jaafari also said his government would be interested in a reconciliation conference but only if it were “an Iraqi and national” one and did not include “terrorists.”

The Arab League is trying to arrange a conference, but the government and major Shi’ite parties ruled out participation if former members of Saddam Hussein’s party and “terrorists” were included.

“I want to talk about the importance of reaching across sectarian lines,” Ms Rice said during a visit to the northern city of Mosul.

As an example of the sectarian tensions in Iraq, Razgar Ali, the head of the Kirkuk provincial council, said the brother of one of the top Sunni leaders in the Shi’ite dominated government, parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani, was arrested by US and Iraqi forces because he is “leader of a terrorist cell called Mohammed al-Fatih.”

Nash’at al-Hassani denied his brother was involved with terrorists.

US forces also reported a raid yesterday on an insurgent cell responsible for suicide bombings in which seven men were killed, including one wearing a vest loaded with explosives.

Three Iraqi police died yesterday when their vehicle was ambushed near Baqouba, north-east of Baghdad.