20 killed in Iraq bombings, shootings

A rubbish collector and a Baghdad University security chief were killed today - among the latest victims of seemingly random violence in Iraq as Prime Minister Nouri Maliki steps up his efforts to bring insurgents into the political process.

Insurgent and government officials said 11 militant groups have offered an immediate halt to all attacks – including those on American troops – if the United States agrees to withdraw foreign forces from Iraq in two years.

Withdrawal is the centrepiece of a set of demands from the groups, which operate north of Baghdad in the heavily Sunni Arab provinces of Salahuddin and Diyala. Although much of the fighting has been to the west, those provinces are increasingly violent and attacks there have crippled oil and commerce routes.

US military spokesman William Caldwell said coalition forces will “help and participate in establishing a dialogue but ultimately it will the government of Iraq that makes final decisions”.

He also said the Americans had gained the momentum in its fight against al Qaida in the Iraq after killing its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and had committed a lot of resources to targeting his successor Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

“There is no question, if we can take him down, that will just disrupt the organisation … to the point where it would be ineffective for a long period of time,” he said. “It is very disorganised right now. And it’s very disrupted right now.”

The rubbish collector, a Shiite, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting early today in western Baghdad, police Captain Jamil Hussein said.

Gunmen in a civilian car also intercepted a car carrying Kadhim Challoub, who was in charge of the guards at Baghdad University, ordered his driver and his guard out, then killed the security chief on the eastern side of the capital, according to police Lt. Mohammad Khayoun.

A roadside bomb aimed at a police patrol in northern Baghdad missed its target but killed one civilian and wounded another.

And at least nine other deaths were reported in the capital, including two merchants, a baker, an electrical worker and a woman sitting in her car with three of her sons, who were wounded. Police also found the bodies of four men who had been blindfolded, handcuffed and shot to death in separate areas of Baghdad.

Elsewhere, gunmen on a motorcycle killed a policeman and attackers firing from a car shot to death a 34-year-old man working in a construction equipment shop in separate attacks in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, health officials said.

Gunmen killed a former Baath Party and his wife as they were driving in the centre of Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Iraqi police also found the body of a 15-year-old girl who had been kidnapped five days ago in the northern city of Kirkuk.

Seven bullet-riddled bodies that had been handcuffed with their legs bound also were found floating in the Tigris River in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad.

Two other men who had been shot dead and showed signs of torture were found in the Euphrates River in Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad. The bodies of a woman and her nine-year-old daughter, as well as a man who were shot dead also were found in the nearby city of Mahaweel.

Highlighting the government’s efforts to ren in the violence and take over control of its own security from US forces, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani led a celebration at the police academy in Baghdad to swear in 560 newly graduated rcruits.

He said Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s reconciliation plan “is evidence of the government’s intention to restore stability an promote reconstruction”.

The insurgent groups who have made contact with the government have largely shunned attacks on Iraqi civilians, focusing instead on the US-led coalition forces. Their offer coincides with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s decision to reach out to the Suni insurgency with a reconciliation pan that includes an amnesty for fighters.

Iraqi presidential security adviser Wafiq al-Samaraie said he received an email yesterday with an offer of co-operation and valuable information from a person describing himself as a member of “one of the most dangerous violent groups abroad.”

“We answered him immediately by email and welcomed him and he replied to us that there are ammunition piles at point X, go and find it, and there is a criminal in such a place … and so on, so this is a blessing of the reconciliation initiative,” he told state-run al-Iraqiya TV.

“All those who contacted us … said that they did not open fire on Iraqis at all.”

The Islamic Army in Iraq, Muhammad Army and the Mujahedeen Shura Council – the umbrella group that covers eight militant groups including al Qaida in Iraq - were not party to any offers to the government.

Naseer al-Ani, a Sunni Arab politician and official with the largest Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that Maliki should encourage the process by guaranteeing security for those making the offer and not immediately reject their demands.

“The government should prove its goodwill and not establish red lines,” al-Ani said.

“If the initiative is implemented in a good way, 70% of the insurgent groups will respond positively.”

Maliki, in televised remarks yesterday, did not issue an outright rejection of the timetable demand.

But he said it was unrealistic, because he could not be certain when the Iraqi army and police would be strong enough to make a foreign presence unnecessary for Iraq’s security.

Eight of the 11 insurgent groups banded together to approach Maliki’s government under The 1920 Revolution Brigade, which has claimed credit for killing US troops in the past. All 11, working through intermediaries, have issued identical demands, according to insurgent spokesmen and government officials.

The total number of insurgents is not known, nor is how many men belong to each group. But Iraq is believed to have about two dozen insurgent organisations in Iraq, so the 11 contacting the government could represent a substantial part of the Sunni-led insurgency.

Maliki’s offer of amnesty for insurgents would not absolve those who have killed Iraqis or American coalition troops. But proving which individuals have carried out fatal attacks would, in many – if not most – cases, be a difficult task.

The issue is extremely sensitive in the United States, which has lost more than 2,500 uniformed men and women in Iraq, many to the insurgents’ bombs and ambushes.

Maliki also set up an email account to communicate with insurgents, flashing the address on the screen during a broadcast on Sunday night.