Fighting in Najaf, Bush ratings hit by Iraq

1.00pm


BAGHDAD - Fighting flared in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf on Thursday for the first time since a truce deal last week, and a new opinion poll showed Iraq violence was hitting US President George W Bush's re-election chances.

US officials said Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld plans to widen investigations into Iraqi prisoner abuse to include US commander in Iraq Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez and other top officers, but there was no suggestion of wrong-doing.

On the political front in Iraq, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said leaders had resolved a dispute over Kurdish autonomy that had threatened to split his fledgling government.

Five people were killed in the Najaf fighting that involved Iraqi police and militiamen belonging to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who launched an anti-US revolt in April, hospital sources said. Three policemen were among the dead.

Gunfire echoed through the streets as police sped past in pick-up trucks, in the first violence since Sadr's Mehdi Army militia agreed a truce with US-led forces on June 4.

"I stood at the door of my house to take a look at the fighting and I was shot," said Khaled Rida, 18, in hospital with a bullet wound in the neck.

Skirmishes lasted through the day and shots were fired around Sadr's house, a spokesman for the cleric said.

Mainstream support from Iraq's majority Shi'ites is vital to Allawi's government, preparing to take over when the US-led occupation formally ends on June 30.

"Any continuity of using force will be dealt (with) by the Iraqi government in a very serious and strong way," Allawi said in a warning to Sadr.

Iraqi police returned to Najaf's streets under the truce deal, which US forces hoped would mark the end of Sadr's uprising. At its peak, the revolt engulfed cities across the mainly Shi'ite south and hundreds of people were killed.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said guerrillas were holding seven Turks hostage in Iraq and demanding Turkish companies leave the country. Al Arabiya television aired a video tape showing what it said were four of the seven hostages.

US officials gave few details in saying Rumsfeld planned to open top officers to the probe into the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, which damaged Washington's image in the Arab world.

"It's Sanchez saying, 'I want to be investigated. I want to make sure that I'm not missed'," said chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita. "It appears that Sanchez followed this thing carefully and did all the right things."

Seven US low-ranking soldiers have been charged with abusing and humiliating Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison.

Bush told reporters at a Group of Eight summit at Sea Island, Georgia he had always ordered questioning methods to remain within the law.

A Los Angeles Times opinion poll gave Democrat John Kerry a solid lead over Bush in the run-up to the US presidential election in November, citing unease over Iraq policies and the economy as factors.

Kerry led Bush by 51 per cent to 44 per cent nationally. Fifty-five per cent disapproved of how Bush was handling Iraq, while 44 per cent approved.

Allawi said he had sorted out the autonomy dispute in talks with Kurdish leaders, but gave no details.

"This issue has been resolved," he told reporters.

Kurdish leaders had warned they would quit the government unless the UN Security Council backed Kurdish autonomy in a resolution unanimously adopted on Tuesday endorsing Allawi's administration and US-led forces to help with security.

The resolution refers to the government's commitment to a federal Iraq, but does not mention a transitional law passed in March that guarantees Kurdish self-rule in the north.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq