US soldiers killed, Iraqis debate handover

9.40am

BAGHDAD - Two US soldiers were killed in roadside bomb blasts in Iraq Monday and at least one child died in a grenade explosion near a school, the US military and Iraqi police said.

In Baghdad, Iraq's US-installed Governing Council began a debate on the thorny issue of how to manage the handover of power from US occupation forces to Iraqis.

Officials also announced international donors would meet this month in Abu Dhabi to start channelling $15 billion in aid pledged to reconstruct Iraq. The attacks on two US convoys in Baghdad and the town of Baquba, 40 miles to the north, happened 20 minutes apart. Five soldiers were also injured.

US soldiers and Iraqi police arrested two men after the Baquba explosion and were investigating whether the bomb was detonated by a cell phone.

In northwest Baghdad, at least one child was killed and one hurt when a grenade in a rubbish bin exploded as they played near Al Jiwadain school, Iraqi police said. A US military spokesman said two people were killed and three wounded.

The military also said gunmen had ambushed an American religious group in Iraq Saturday, killing one person and wounding three.

"They were travelling in an Iraqi taxi from Babylon to Baghdad when people in a white sedan ambushed them with small arms fire," a spokesman said. It was not clear which church group they represented.

SADDAM ASSOCIATE RELEASED

Monday's blasts brought to around 375 the number of US soldiers killed in action Iraq since the US-led invasion last March which toppled Saddam Hussein.

One of Saddam's associates arrested after the invasion, former Iraqi parliament speaker Saadoun Hammadi, was freed at the weekend.

Hammadi's son, Ghassan, said Monday his father had suffered in detention, but had apparently not been mistreated or faced any sort of formal charge.

"He was never accused of anything. He was just a former official in a former government," Ghassan said.

Hammadi, who worked under Saddam for nearly four decades, was arrested in May, but was not on a "most wanted" list of 55 former officials of Saddam's government.

There was no immediate comment by the US military.

HANDOVER

With the US death toll rising and a presidential election looming in November, President Bush is sticking to his June 30 target for handing power back to Iraqis.

The Governing Council met Monday to discuss how that would happen now the possibility of holding elections before June had been all but ruled out.

"We want an agreement on how we will create the leadership that will be handed sovereignty," Council member Mahmoud Othman said as the first of several planned meetings began.

"We have two options: either expanding the Governing Council by adding new members or holding a national conference that will include all the Iraqi powers."

Council members said they would have a proposal by the end of the month.

The United Nations, which sent a mission to Iraq last week, is trying to resolve a dispute between Iraq's majority Shi'ites, who have been demanding elections before the handover, and Washington which says there is no time to organise them.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will announce his position later this week.

An estimated $56 billion is needed over the next few years to fund rebuilding Iraq after the invasion and more than a decade of sanctions. Iraqi Planning Minister Mehdi al-Hafedh said an international donor conference would meet from Feb. 28-29.

He said countries pledging a minimum of $10 million each would take part in the conference, which would activate two funds run by the World Bank and the United Nations.

"We expect definite results. We need to build a modern state along transparent lines," Hafedh said.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq