Iraq death toll climbs

Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders today called for an end to Iraq’s sectarian conflict and vowed to track down those responsible for the war’s deadliest attack.

But as they spoke in an effort to keep Iraq from sliding into an all-out civil war, fierce fighting between Iraqi security forces and Sunni-Arab insurgents raged for a second day in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province north of Baghdad.

By the end of the day, the province’s latest casualty figures were a microcosm of the brutality that Iraq faces: 17 insurgents killed, 15 detained, 20 civilians kidnapped, three bodies found, one US Marine killed and two wounded.

The mayor of a municipality also narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that killed one of his guards and wounded three.

During yesterday's fighting in Baqouba, police had killed at least 36 insurgents and wounded dozens after scores of militants armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades attacked government buildings in the centre of the city, police said.

The fighting raged for hours in Baqouba, 35 miles north-east of Baghdad.

Yesterday officials including Defence Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obaidi and General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, met and decided to fire Diyala’s police commander, saying he was unable to stop infiltration of the force by Sunni insurgents, two Iraqi officials said.

One of the main challenges that US and British forces face in recruiting and training Iraqi military and police forces is that soldiers and police often are attacked by insurgents and militias fighting the coalition.

Militants and militias have also infiltrated some security forces to kill and kidnap in disguise.

After holding another meeting of Iraq’s Political Council for National Security in Baghdad today to discuss Iraq’s crisis, Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, Sunni parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and Kurdish President Jalal Talabani made a joint statement on state-run TV.

“We promise the great martyrs that we will chase the killers and criminals, the terrorists, Saddamists and Takfiri (Sunni extremists) for viciously trying to divide you,” they said, referring to the 215 people who died when Sunni insurgents attacked Sadr City, the capital’s main Shiite district, on Thursday.

Maliki also urged his national unity government of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to end their public disputes and curb the sectarian violence sweeping through cities such as Baqouba.

“The crisis is political and it is the politicians who must try to prevent more violence and bloodletting.

"The terrorist acts are a reflection of the lack of political accord,” Maliki said.

He is facing strong criticism from top Shiite and Sunni Arab leaders alike as he prepares for a summit meeting in neighbouring Jordan with US President George W Bush on Wednesday and Thursday.

Maliki visited Sadr City this afternoon and paid condolences to some of the relatives of those killed in the bombings.

The Shiite leader entered funeral tents, shook hands and kissed the relatives, then walked in a main street in the midst of hundreds of people.

The challenges that Bush faces across the region were evident to Jordan’s King Abdullah, who said the problems in the Middle East go beyond the war in Iraq and that much of the region soon could become engulfed in violence unless the central issues are addressed quickly.

“We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands,” he said, citing conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon and the decades-long strife between Palestinians and Israelis.

“Therefore, it is time that we really take a strong step forward as part of the international community and make sure we avert the Middle East from a tremendous crisis that I fear, and I see could possibly happen in 2007,” he said.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week, Abdullah said he remained hopeful a summit will somehow lower the sectarian violence that threatens to push Iraq into all-out civil war. “We hope there will be something dramatic. The challenges, obviously, in front of both of them are immense,” the king said.

Elsewhere, two US Marines were killed in Anbar province yesterday, the area of western Iraq where many Sunni insurgent groups are based.

In Baghdad, the government partially lifted a 24-hour curfew it had imposed in the capital after the bombing and mortar attack in Sadr City, and some Iraqis went shopping at local vegetable and fruit markets after being confined to their homes for two full days.

But mortar attacks and shootings continued in Baghdad, killing a total of seven people and wounding seven, police said. A tortured body also was found in the River Tigris.

Two mortar rounds hit a US military post in eastern Baghdad, setting it on fire and leaving a dark cloud of smoke above the Baladiyat neighbourhood, police and witnesses said.

Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bleichwehl, a US military spokesman, confirmed that “indirect fire rounds” hit the area, but declined to provide details. No casualties were reported.

Adnan al-Dulaimi, a Sunni lawmaker who heads a large Sunni bloc in parliament, also escaped unharmed when gunmen attacked his home in Baghdad and were repelled by his armed guards, the legislator said.

A total of 44 people were killed or found dead in Iraq today, police said.