World

Attacks Kill Dozens In Iraq

February 6, 2005 / 12:53 PM EST / CBS/AP

Facing the prospect of a Shiite Muslim landslide, Sunni politicians offered on Saturday to participate in mapping the nation's political future. But Sunni rebels showed no sign of compromise, killing two U.S. soldiers and at least 33 Iraqis in a string of attacks.

Officials of the Shiite-led coalition that has rolled up a big lead in Sunday's elections said it wants the prime minister post in the upcoming government — casting doubt on chances that U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi can keep his job.

Allawi, whose ticket is running a distant second in election returns so far, had been seen as a possible compromise candidate if the Shiites and their allies don't win the two-thirds of the 275 National Assembly seats needed to pick the government.

In other developments:

Iraqi authorities are broadcasting videotapes that mix images of masked insurgents beheading hostages with scenes of captured suspects apologizing for their alleged crimes, the New York Times reports. The suspects are also asked religious questions to show that they are not men of God.

Police questioned the driver and translator of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was seized by gunmen Friday near Baghdad University — the first reported kidnapping of a foreigner since last weekend's election. But police said the two were not suspects in her abduction.

Three French nationals being held by the U.S. military in Iraq, the New York Times reports. A French official says his country plans to offer the men consular protection to safeguard their rights.

A nine-man Army jury on Friday sentenced former Abu Ghraib guard Sgt. Javal Davis to six months in a military prison, reduction in rank to private and a bad-conduct discharge. Davis admitted to stepping on the hands and feet of handcuffed detainees and falling with his full weight on top of them.

Newspaper lawyers asking that a military hearing on the alleged suffocation death of an Iraqi general be held in open court say the Army has refused to let them see evidence on why the session should be closed. Four soldiers based at Fort Carson, Colo., are charged with murder and dereliction of duty in the death of Maj. Gen. Abed Mowhoush during an interrogation at Qaim, Iraq, on Nov. 26, 2003. A hearing officer closed the preliminary proceeding in their case on Dec. 3 after Army lawyers said classified information could be revealed. Lawyers for The Denver Post appealed the closure to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals in Washington, which stopped the hearing until it rules in the case.

The Iraqi election commission predicted it would announce final vote totals by Thursday.

Partial returns from about 35 percent of the 5,200 polling centers showed the Alliance, which was endorsed by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, with about two-thirds of the votes to 18 percent for Allawi, a secular Shiite. Shiites are believed to make up two-thirds of Iraq's 26 million people.

But many Sunnis apparently stayed at home on election day, heeding boycott calls by hardline clerics or fearing insurgent attacks. That has raised fears that the Sunni Arab minority, estimated at 20 percent of the population, may not accept a new Shiite-dominated government, fueling the Sunni-led insurgency.

In a bid to avoid marginalization, a group of Sunni Arab parties that refused to participate in the election said Saturday they want to take part in the drafting of a permanent constitution — a chief task of the new National Assembly.

"The representatives of these political bodies that did not participate in the elections have decided in principle to take part in the writing of the permanent constitution in a suitable way," a statement from the group said.

The groups were mainly small movements and it was not clear whether they represent a major portion of the Sunni Arab community. The initiative was spearheaded by Sunni elder statesman Adnan Pachachi, who ran for a National Assembly seat.

Pachachi told CNN that he had talked with Shiite and Kurdish leaders about a role for the Sunnis in drafting a new constitution "and they all welcomed this idea."

"So I think this will help to perhaps lessen the tensions and help in satisfying the country to some extent," Pachachi said.

Nevertheless, there was little sign that armed Sunni groups — including nationalists, Saddam supporters and Islamic zealots — were ready to join in any national reconciliation.

Two American soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing Friday night near the town of Beiji, about 155 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Saturday.

A roadside bomb killed four Iraqi National Guardsmen early Saturday in Basra. Gunmen stormed a police station in the northern city of Mosul, killing five officers, police said.

The brother of Mosul's police chief was kidnapped Saturday, police said, three days after the official, Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Jubouri, threatened to destroy rebel sanctuaries if insurgents did not surrender their weapons within two weeks. Al-Jubouri said late Saturday that his brother was freed in a raid that netted nine of the kidnappers.

Elsewhere, insurgents assassinated a member of the Baghdad city council, Abbas Hasan Waheed, and a member of Iraq's intelligence service in two separate drive-by shootings.

Bombs and clashes killed seven Iraqis in Samarra and Tal Afar, north of Baghdad, and in Ramadi, to the west.

Eight bodies were found Saturday in Anbar province — five in Ramadi and three in the town of Baghdadi — and residents said they were believed to be Iraqis who worked for the Americans or Iraqi security services.

The extremist Ansar al-Sunnah Army posted a video on an Islamist Web site Saturday showing seven people being shot. The group said the seven were Iraqi National Guardsmen captured two days ago in an ambush west of Baghdad.