40 Iraqi rebels die in raids

BAGHDAD - US forces killed more than 40 Iraqi rebels in raids and air strikes near Baghdad, the military said yesterday, but leading clerics from the Sunni minority accused the Americans of an "atrocity" that killed two dozen civilians.

Two US helicopter crew were killed when their aircraft was shot down during battles in the rural area around Latifiya and Yusufiya, south of the capital, where the military has said al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been active.

The complaint from the Muslim Clerics Association, the main Sunni Arab religious grouping, came at a sensitive time as US officials wait anxiously for minority Sunni political leaders to confirm their participation in a national-unity government.

Saddam Hussein, whose overthrow in the US invasion of 2003 deprived Sunnis of the power they once held over the Shiite Muslim majority, refused to plead in court yesterday when read a formal charge sheet for crimes against humanity in the killing, torture or jailing of 399 Shiites from the town of Dujail.

The judge entered a not-guilty plea for Saddam, who insists he is still head of state.

- REUTERS