The New Nation - Internet Edition

Baghdad under curfew as Iraq PM vows to pursue crackdown: Three Americans killed in Iraq violence

AP, Washington

Three Americans including a US soldier were killed in Iraq violence.

The State Department is instructing all personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad not to leave reinforced structures due to incoming insurgent fire that has killed two American government workers this week.

Also Thursday, a U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bombing in mostly Shiite eastern Baghdad, the U.S. command said. No further details were released.

One American, a government employee, died in Thursday's attacks on the Green Zone, four days after an American financial analyst was mortally wounded there.

A memo sent to embassy staff and obtained by The Associated Press says employees are required to wear helmets and other protective gear if they must venture outside and strongly advises them to sleep in blast resistant locations instead of trailers that most occupy.

The memo was sent after a second American citizen was killed by a rocket attack in the Green Zone on Thursday. A U.S. citizen military contractor died of his wounds on Monday after being severely injured with four others in an attack.

Meanwhle, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed Thursday to pursue a crackdown on Shiite gunmen despite protests and mounting casualties, as Iraqi forces battled militias in Basra and Kut and slapped a three-day curfew on Baghdad.

Iraq's military authorities imposed a total curfew in Baghdad until Sunday to contain the fighting between Shiite militants and Iraqi troops, security officials told AFP, adding that the lockdown would be effective until dawn Sunday.

At least 105 people have died countrywide in clashes since Maliki ordered his troops to crack down on "lawless gangs" in Basra on Tuesday, according to official reports. Some sources have put the toll at double that.

Iraqi troops have clashed with Shiite gunmen in areas controlled by Sadr's so-called Mahdi Army since Tuesday, severely straining a "freeze" he ordered of the militia's activities last August.

Sadr appealed late Thursday for a "peaceful and political solution to end the crisis," according to a statement which a Sadr official in Najaf said would be distributed to the cleric's supporters across Iraq.

In Baghdad, Sadr's followers had earlier staged noisy protests against the crackdown in Basra and demanded the resignation of Maliki, who is personally overseeing the military operations.

The prime minister vowed not to back away from the military onslaught, despite Sadr's threat to launch a civil revolt if the attacks continued.

"We have come to Basra at the invitation of the civilians to do our national duty and protect them from the gangs who have terrified them and stolen the national wealth," he said in a statement.

Basra has become the theatre of a turf war between the Mahdi Army and two rival Shiite factions -- the powerful Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and the smaller Fadhila party.

In an interview with state television Al-Iraqiya, Maliki said the operation was not aimed at any particular political faction.

"Frankly we don't care who these gangs are linked to," he said.

"They violated laws, attacked property and killed innocents. We were surprised, however, that a specific political faction just exploded and gathered its forces to block the work of the government and started to attack the police," he added, without identifying the group.

Maliki's offensive drew praise from US President George W. Bush, who called the fighting in Basra a "positive moment" for the development of Iraqi security forces and proof the Baghdad government could defend itself.

Fighting in the city of Kut, 175 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of Baghdad, killed four police and 40 Shiite militiamen, police chief Abdul Hanin al-Amara told AFP.

"The security forces launched an operation at around midnight (2100 GMT Wednesday) to take back areas under the control of Shiite gunmen," Amara said, adding that police were now in control of the neighbourhoods.

An AFP correspondent in Basra, meanwhile, said heavy fighting erupted early Thursday in the central Jumhuriyah neighbourhood, a Mahdi Army bastion, where militiamen attacked troops with mortars, machineguns, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire.

Police said Basra police chief Major General Abdul Jalil Khalaf survived a suicide car bomb attack in central Basra but three policemen were killed.

A pall of thick black smoke hung over the port city after a blast damaged an oil pipeline transporting crude from Zubair oil field to the Al-Faw storage facility.

Samir al-Maksusi, spokesman for the Southern Oil Company, said a fire caused by the blast had been extinguished, but that exports would be directly affected.

"The technical crew needs 48 to 72 hours to repair the pipeline," he said.

22 killed in Pakistan Shi’ite-Sunni clashes

Reuters, Kohat

Sectarian violence between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims intensified in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan on Friday, with at least 22 people reportedly killed in gunbattles, a senior official said.

"Dead bodies are lying inside houses and in fields," said Qalb-e-Hassan, a newly elected provincial legislator from Kohat town.

Fighting overnight was concentrated in three villages of Kohat district of North West Frontier Province.

The tribesmen were armed with semi-automatic weapons, machine guns, mortars and rockets, and the civil authorities have asked for the army to help restore order.

"I have reports that at least 22 people were killed in fighting overnight," said Kamran Zeb, a senior administrator in Kohat, though he added it was too unsafe to verify how many people have been killed.

The latest clashes, between men from the Mishti and Kachai tribes, brought the toll to more than 50 in an outbreak of sectarian violence that began last week.

Some media reports put the toll higher.

At least six people were killed on Thursday in a suspected militant attack on a ambulance in Kohat's neighboring Kurram tribal region, which also has a long history of violence between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.

While Kohat is plagued with sectarian unrest, al Qaeda-linked militants have unleashed a wave of violence on the rest of Pakistan. Nearly 600 people have been killed since the start of the year, many of them victims of suicide attacks.

Pakistani security forces are battling militants in several parts of NWFP, including Kohat, and in seven semi-autonomous tribal regions on the border with Afghanistan.

US fails to close gaps with Russia on shield

Reuters, Washington

The United States said on Thursday it made some progress in two days of talks with Russia over a disputed U.S. missile shield to deter attacks from states like Iran, but big differences remained.

The latest talks in Washington followed a visit last week to Moscow by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who offered to give Russians access to U.S.-proposed shield sites in the Czech Republic and Poland as a way of allaying Russian fears over the plan.

"We made a lot of headway t but there are still significant issues that need to be resolved," Acting U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Rood told reporters at the end of the talks.

Both sides discussed written proposals on missile defense and other key bilateral issues delivered by Rice and Gates at the end of their Moscow trip.

Washington wants to get a so-called strategic framework agreement on key issues between the two countries in time for a summit next month between U.S. President George W. Bush and outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin, but U.S. officials conceded there was a way to go yet.

Asked whether he thought the strategic framework document, which includes missile defense, would be agreed on before the Putin-Bush summit, senior State Department official Dan Fried told reporters: "I don't know."

"They were not going to give away positions where they had disagreements, but they were not throwing up roadblocks and spinning things out," Fried added.

Rood said they were working at an "intense" pace, but he was noncommittal over when there might be agreement.

Israel seeking peace talks with Syria

Reuters, Jerusalem

An Israeli minister said on Friday that the Jewish state was trying to revive peace talks with Syria and that the price of a deal was the occupied Golan Heights.

The comments by Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer came after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated this week that Israel was willing to make peace with its Arab neighbor and hinted at behind-the-scenes talks.

"Every effort is being made to bring Syria to the negotiating table," Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio.

"We know that sitting at the negotiating table is not to sing Hatikva (Israel's national anthem) but to sign an agreement, and we know very well the price of this agreement."

Asked if the price was to relinquish control of the Golan Heights, Ben-Eliezer said: "Exactly."

Israel captured the Golan, a strategic plateau, from neighboring Syria during the 1967 Middle East War and annexed it in 1981 in a move that has not been internationally recognized.

Peace talks between Israel and Syria collapsed in 2000 over the extent of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the Golan. Tensions have risen since then with Israel accusing Syria of supporting the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups like Hamas.

Russia has offered to host a Middle East peace conference this year to try to relaunch talks between the two countries.

Olmert on Wednesday appeared to signal reluctance about attending such a summit but said Israel was willing to make peace with Syria and that he hoped the two sides would be able to hold talks.

Hillary's popularity plunges to new low: Poll

AP, Washington

Hillary Clinton's popularity has plunged to a seven-year low, while her Democratic White House rival appears to have escaped unscathed from controversy over his outspoken pastor, a US poll suggests. According to the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll yesterday, Clinton received a 37 per cent positive rating among the sample of registered voters, her lowest rating since March 2001, two months after she first took office as New York senator. Meanwhile, her opponent saw no significant change among respondents in his positive rating, which was down only slightly to 49 per cent from 51 per cent two weeks ago. He also stood strong against Republican candidate John McCain, who 58 per cent of voters said would be successful in uniting the country, compared to 60 per cent for Obama and 47 per cent for Clinton. Obama, a senator from Illinois, gave a landmark speech on race in America last week in a bid to smooth controversy over his pastor Jeremiah Wright's incendiary comments on racism and American foreign policy.

US says no meddling to save Musharraf

AP, Karachi

A senior U.S. envoy promised Thursday that Washington would not interfere in Pakistan's politics to save longtime ally President Pervez Musharraf, but he was cautious on the new government's hopes to talk peace with pro-Taliban forces.Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte offered little defense for Musharraf, the former army general whose help in combatting Islamic extremists was deemed crucial by Washington after the Sept. 11 attack on the United States. Any debate "with regard to the issue of his status is something that will have to be addressed by the internal Pakistani political process," Negroponte said, alluding to calls for Musharraf to resign and an impeachment threat from an incoming government bent on slashing presidential powers. "We will certainly respect whatever is decided in that regard," the diplomat told reporters in Karachi, the southern city that is Pakistan's business center.

Sarkozy and Brown divided over China

AP, London

French President Nicolas Sarkozy ended his state visit Thursday by stressing he could boycott the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony, striking a rare note of conflict with his hosts after two days of pomp, ceremony and promises of a new era of cooperation. Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown showcased their friendship during the French leader's 36-hour trip, sealing a multibillion-dollar defense deal, vowing to jointly press the United States on climate change and to curb the spread of nuclear weapons technology. Sarkozy said he and Brown had worked "hand in glove" since they both took office last year, but acknowledged they are divided over a possible Olympics boycott to punish China for its crackdown on Tibetans, an idea that the French leader first raised early in the week. "I reserve the right to say whether I will attend," Sarkozy said at a news conference at London's Emirates soccer stadium.

Bush invites Abbas to hold White House talks

AFP, Aboard Air Force One

US President George W. Bush has invited Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to the White House in a bid to advance the faltering Middle East peace process, a US official said Thursday. The move was part of a continuing effort "to work with the Palestinians and the Israelis as well as other countries in the region in realizing a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel," said spokesman for the national security council Gordon Johndroe. Abbas has been invited to visit around May 1, although the "details are still being worked out," Johndroe told reporters as Bush flew to Ohio to give an address on the US "war on terror." A senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday that the US consul in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, had transmitted the invitation to Abbas to travel to Washington on April 24.

North Korea test-fires missiles

AP, Seoul

North Korea test-fired a barrage of short-range missiles Friday, the communist nation's latest apparent angry response to the new South Korean government's tougher stance on Pyongyang. The launches came as the North issued a stern rebuke to Washington over an impasse at nuclear disarmament talks, warning that the Americans' attitude could "gravely" affect the continuing disablement of Pyongyang's atomic facilities. The missile tests were part of routine training, South Korean presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said, declining to give further details on the type of rockets fired. He told reporters Seoul was "closely monitoring the situation." "I believe North Korea would also not want a strain in inter-Korean relations," Lee said. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea launched three ship-to-ship missiles at around 10:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. EST Thursday), citing unidentified government officials.