Iraqi PM apologises for American tactics

Nuri al Maliki

US attempts to control spiralling sectarian violence in Baghdad ran into immediate problems yesterday, as Iraq's Prime Minister sharply criticised American tactics and made a televised apology to the Iraqi people.

The row marked the first day of an operation to deploy thousands of US reinforcements in the city of seven million people which has been carved into discreet sectarian strongholds where it is lethal for members of rivals communities to set foot.

Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki responded angrily to a US-led attack in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, the stronghold of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The raid left three people dead, including one child, and sparked fears of a violent response from the cleric's powerful Mehdi army militia.

In a television broadcast, al-Maliki said he was "very angered and pained" by the operation, warning that it could undermine his efforts toward national reconciliation.

He went on to apologise to the Iraqi people for the operation and said: "This won't happen again."

For its part, the US military said it had backed up Iraqi forces in the Sadr City raid in order to detain "individuals involved in punishment and torture cell activities".

Analysts were last night warning that the ongoing war in Lebanon could spark a backlash against US and British troops from Iraq's Shia community.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the Washington's ambassador to Iraq, said US operations were aimed at ending sectarian bloodletting: "Meetings have taken place between forces of armed militias to reach an agreement to have assigned pledges for ending sectarian attacks on each other."

But there is no sign of a slow down in the killing, which is claiming as many as 100 lives every day in Baghdad alone.

A series of bombings and shootings killed at least 31 people across Iraq yesterday as more US troops were seen in the capital as part of a campaign to reduce Sunni-Shia violence that has escalated into a de facto civil war.

Four separate roadside bomb attacks killed at least 19 people in Baghdad yesterday, taking the two-day death toll past 50.

The deadliest bombing killed at least 10 people and wounded 69 in the al-Shorja market in central Baghdad.

Earlier, two blasts targeting police and another aimed at one of Baghdad's busiest bus stations killed nine people, the police sources said.

Eight people were wounded in those attacks.

Aside from showing he can take control of the country, al-Maliki is also faced with the task of proving he can take a tough stand on abuse of Iraqis at the hands of US troops.

A US military court was today deciding whether four soldiers should be court-martialled for the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and her family in Mahmoudiya, a village south of Baghdad.

It heard how troops were "driven nuts" by combat stress and got high on Iraqi cough syrup.

Private First Class Justic Cross described how conditions "pretty much crushed the platoon", which lived in constant fear of being killed in the Mahmudiya area south of Baghdad where the rape and murders took place in March.

- INDEPENDENT