US lists Falluja lynch suspects for Iraq police

FALLUJA - US forces handed a list of 25 suspects in the lynching of four American contractors in Falluja to Iraqi police on Sunday, a sign of their growing impatience with the lack of progress in arresting the culprits.

The killing and mutilation of the private security guards on March 31 prompted a crackdown by US Marines in Falluja last month, but the Americans withdrew to the outskirts and entrusted security to Iraqi forces after bloody fighting with insurgents.

Almost two months after images of the contractors' corpses being dragged through the streets and strung up on a bridge were beamed around the world, the US military has yet to fulfil its pledge to bring those responsible to justice.

"The arrest of those people is a priority for the coalition forces," Colonel John Toolan, regimental commander of the 1st Marines Regiment told reporters in Falluja, after handing over the list at a security meeting with Iraqi police.

"Their arrests will go a long way in strengthening trust between Iraqi security forces and the coalition forces."

Falluja's Police Chief Sabar al-Janabi said his men were doing all they could to catch those responsible, as well as other criminals in the Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad.

"We are making arrests every day. We have caught a lot of car thieves, we will soon arrest the terrorists," he said, referring to the contractors' killers.

US forces said the suspects on their list participated in the murder and mutilation of the contractors. They declined to reveal the names, but said they included some "outsiders".

US troops say there may be about 100 foreign Islamic fighters holed up in Falluja.

Toolan said the names on the list had been obtained from television footage of the killings and intelligence sources.

A Falluja Brigade of Iraqi forces, manned mainly by former members of Saddam Hussein's now-dissolved army, has taken responsibility for security in the city of 300,000 people.

US commanders have expressed impatience at the brigade's failure to arrest the killers or to strip fighters in the city of heavy weapons.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq