BAGHDAD, 16 May 2006 — US and Iraqi forces said yesterday they killed 47 suspected insurgents, including an Al-Qaeda member wanted over the downing of a US helicopter, and arrested some 250 others in weekend raids. The wanted man, Abu Mustafa, was killed along with 15 other alleged rebels in a series of raids “supported by fire from helicopters” on Latifiyah, south of Baghdad, on Saturday and Sunday, the US military said.
“Abu Mustafa was also a known weapons smuggler who allegedly facilitated the movement of missiles and rockets within the Al-Qaeda terrorist network,” it said, adding that eight arrests were made. Two US servicemen died in the April crash of an Apache helicopter, which US forces said Mustafa organized. Another 25 insurgents were killed in a separate attack on an insurgent “safe haven” in Latifiyah on Sunday, the military said.
The Muslim Scholars’ Association, the top Sunni Arab religious organization in Iraq, condemned the actions as brutal attacks on civilians, including women and children, and accused coalition forces of killing prisoners. “These actions are a severe moral setback for the occupier that claims to be honest and here to liberate the country,” it said in a statement. “The association puts the whole responsibility for this cruel violation on the Iraqi government and the occupier, and demands the release of the prisoners,” it said.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces killed two insurgents and arrested 42 others in operations in Latifiyah over the past 24 hours, while another 23 were arrested in the restive city of Ramadi. And a joint US-Iraqi force killed four insurgents, including two foreigners, in raids near Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq, the ministry said, adding that 165 suspects were detained. Another 12 suspected insurgents were arrested in three other minor operations, the ministry said.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani insisted yesterday he would not accept the formation of an “incomplete” government, with the key Interior and Defense Ministry posts still undecided five months to the day since the country’s landmark election.
Violence has raged across Iraq as political leaders continue to bicker over key ministerial posts in the first permanent government of the post Saddam Hussein era. Talabani rejected calls for the defense and interior posts to be filled temporarily to end the long-running political deadlock, as Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds jostle for power.
“The presidency does not wish to see the presentation of an incomplete government lacking the defense and interior posts,” he told reporters. Prime Minister-designate Nuri Al-Maliki, a Shiite, has until May 21 to announce his Cabinet. “There is an agreement that these two ministries should go to independents on which all party lists agree,” Talabani said, adding: “God willing, the new national unity government will be announced before the end of the week.”
On Sunday, Bahaa Al-Aaraji, an MP close to Shiite radical leader Moqtada Al-Sadr, said Maliki would keep the interior and defense portfolios in his own hands for the time being. In an important concession from the Sunni Arab bloc, Sunni Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi said defense should go to a Sunni member of the secular party of Shiite former interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose members include both sects. “The Interior Ministry should go to a Shiite but he should be approved by all the other lists,” Hashemi said. “The defense ministry should go to Allawi’s list and should be approved by everybody.”
