Syrian minister visits Iraq as violence continues

SYRIA’S foreign minister arrived in Baghdad yesterday at a time when his country is increasingly seen as key to helping stem the insurgency in Iraq.

The sectarian violence continued yesterday, with the deadliest attack in the Shi’ite city of Hillah, where a suicide bomber in a minivan lured day labourers to his vehicle with promises of a job then blew it up, killing 22 people, police said.

The Iraqi government and its US sponsors accuse Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross into Iraq. Syria denies the charge, saying it is impossible to control the long desert border.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem’s visit, his first since the ousting of Saddam Hussein, is a major step toward restoring diplomatic relations severed more than a quarter-century ago.

The Bush administration is under growing pressure to ask adversaries such as Iran and Syria for help in trying to avoid the collapse of an increasingly violent Iraq.

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who advised Bush on the Iraq war, said military victory is no longer possible and joined calls for the US government to seek help from Iraq’s regional neighbours — including Iran.

Meanwhile, in Basra, Iraqi forces searching for four American security contractors and an Austrian kidnapped in the area detained about 200 suspected insurgents in raids. None of the hostages was found.