The New Nation - Internet Edition

4 US soldiers killed as rockets hit Baghdad Green Zone

AP, Baghdad

Bombardments by suspected militants killed four U.S. soldiers Monday as troops tried to push Shiite fighters farther from the U.S.-protected Green Zone and out of range of their rockets and mortars.

At least 44 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for U.S. forces since September.

The U.S. military said three soldiers were killed in eastern Baghdad by indirect fire, a reference to mortars or rockets. The statement did not give an exact location for the attack, but the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City has been the scene of intense fighting recently with Shiite militiamen. A fourth U.S. soldier was killed by a shell in western Baghdad, the military said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaking before the U.N. Security Council, accused Iran and Syria of trying to destabilize Iraq.

A showdown between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army - led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr - has increasingly drawn U.S. forces into battles. American commanders are particularly focused on trying to curb a rise in mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone.

At least three more salvos hit the Green Zone in central Baghdad, but there were no reports of injuries. In Sadr City - the stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia - U.S. soldiers battled deeper into the district a day after fierce clashes that killed at least 38 suspected militants, the military said.

U.S. soldiers killed seven more extremists Monday after coming under small-arms fire in Sadr City, the military said. Four of the suspects were killed in an airstrike and three others by an Abrams tank crew, according to a statement.

On Monday, 30 Iraqi lawmakers from various political parties urged Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to end the monthlong confrontation, saying innocent civilians and children were the main victims of the fighting.

Hillary not Obama, leads McCain by 9 points: Poll

AP, Washington

Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads John McCain by 9 points in a head-to-head presidential matchup, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that bolsters her argument that she is more electable than Democratic rival Barack Obama. Obama and Republican McCain are running about even.

The survey released Monday gives the New York senator and former first lady a fresh talking point as she works to raise much-needed campaign cash and persuade pivotal undecided superdelegates to side with her in the drawn-out Democratic primary fight.

Helped by independents, young people and seniors, Clinton gained ground this month in a hypothetical match with Sen. McCain, the GOP nominee-in-waiting. She now leads McCain, 50 percent to 41 percent, while Obama remains virtually tied with McCain, 46 percent to 44 percent.

Both Democrats were roughly even with McCain in the previous poll about three weeks ago. Since then, Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary, raising questions anew about whether Obama can attract broad swaths of voters needed to triumph in such big states come the fall when the Democratic nominee will go up against McCain. At the same time.

Afghan suicide blast kills 15 civilians

AFP, Jalalabad

A suicide blast tore through an anti-drugs meeting of officials and villagers in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 people, a witness and a NATO force told AFP.

The insurgent Taliban movement said one of its fighters carried out the suicide bombing in the small town of Khogyani in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

In the immediate aftermath of the powerful blast, Afghan officials would not say how many people were killed and who they were. But the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which had troops in the area, said its initial information was that 15 Afghans were dead and 14 wounded. It had earlier said 25 Afghans were hurt.

A man who witnessed the attack told AFP at the main hospital in the city of Jalalabad, 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Khogyani, that the meeting was being held in the open in front of the district headquarters.

"Locals were sitting on the ground as the district authorities, district police chief, district governor and others were talking to them, saying they should not grow opium," the shaken man said, refusing to give his name.

"I saw a young boy who was carrying white papers wandering around the crowd, pretending he was applying for something at the district headquarters.

Georgia is preparing for war against rebels: Russia

Reuters, Moscow

Georgia is preparing to attack its breakaway region of Abkhazia, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday, days after Moscow warned it would defend its Abkhaz allies if they came under attack.

"Analysis of the structure of the armed forces present in this region leads to the conclusion that a bridgehead is being prepared for the start of military operations against Abkhazia," the ministry said in a statement.

US accuses Iran and Syria of trying to destabilise Iraq

AP, United Nations

The United States is accusing Iran and Syria of trying to destabilize Iraq.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that Iranian-backed groups have launched numerous attacks on Iraqi civilians and multinational forces this year.

He cites estimates suggesting that 90 percent of foreign terrorists enter Iraq through Syria.

Tareq Aziz trial begins at Iraqi High Tribunal

AFP, Baghdad

The trial begins in Iraq on Tuesday of Tareq Aziz, former deputy premier and the international face of the Saddam Hussein regime, on charges related to the execution of 42 Baghdad merchants in 1992.

It is the fourth trial of former regime officials by the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT), the court set up to try high-ranking officials under Saddam. Judge Muneer Haddad from the IHT confirmed to AFP that the trial will begin on Tuesday.

Tareq Aziz and seven others, including "Chemical" Ali Hasan al-Majid, are accused of executing the Baghdad businessmen after blaming them for hiking food prices when Iraq was under UN sanctions.

Prosecutors say the victims were arrested in Baghdad's wholesale markets and executed after a speedy trial in 1992. They also allege that the former regime then seized their money and property.

According to his son, Tareq Aziz is innocent of the charges against him. Ziad Aziz also described the charges against his father as "weak" and aimed at "preventing him from taking advantage of the amnesty law which states that anyone held for a year without being referred to court must be released."

"My father has been in prison for five yearst without being charged, tried or investigated," he said.

Aziz and Majid, who is already on death row after being convicted of genocide for overseeing the killings of Kurdish villagers in 1988, are the two most high profile defendants in the new trial.

Bush to visit 3 ME countries

AFP, Washington

US President George W. Bush will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt May 13-18 but has no plans for a joint peace summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the White House said Monday.

Bush, who seeks a Middle East peace deal by year's end, will meet in Israel with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and address the Knesset, Israel's parliament, said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

The US president, who has been pushing Israel and the Palestinians to agree on the outlines of a future Palestinian state, will then travel to Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah. In Egypt, Bush will meet with President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Abdullah II, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, and deliver remarks at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East, said Perino. With peace talks stalled and violence flaring up, "we're under no illusions that things are going to happen immediately," the spokeswoman told reporters.

"Things are very dynamic and fluid and we hope that they continue to push in the right direction. But we're going to have to push them faster than they've been going," she said.

"There's a lot of deep-seated history that has to be addressed if they're going to define a state by the end of the year. And we know how much hard work there is to be done, and that's one of the reasons that the president is going back to the region," she said.

Karzai was warned of assassination plot: Afghan intelligence

AP, Kabul

President Hamid Karzai was warned of a weekend assassination plot against him, Afghanistan's intelligence chief said Tuesday, while admitting failings by security services.

Meanwhile, a suicide attack killed 15 people in an eastern province, a NATO spokesman said. Amrullah Saleh told Parliament the plot to kill Karzai was hatched last month and the gunmen had rented the hotel room they opened fire from 45 days before the attack.

Karzai and other dignitaries escaped unharmed from Sunday's assault during a ceremony in Kabul marking Afghanistan's victory over the Soviet occupation of the country in the 1980s. Three other people, including a lawmaker, died. Three of the attackers were also killed in a gunbattle with security forces after the assault, Karzai's government said, but the Taliban said three other insurgents got away.

"We had technical information t that this work would happen," Saleh told a National Assembly session broadcast live on national television. "We passed this information to the national security (adviser) and to the president of Afghanistan."

Despite stringent measures by security services to protect the event, "the result is that we failed," Saleh said.