September 23, 2005

* 4 Iraqi police officials killed
* Iraqi FM appeals world to 'stick together’ on Iraq
* Bush rejects quick US withdrawal

BAGHDAD: A roadside bomb hit a US convoy in southern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding six, while suspected insurgents gunned down at least eight Iraqis in four separate attacks on Thursday, officials said.

The US military also said an American soldier died on Wednesday night of injuries sustained in a vehicle accident near Kirkuk.

In New York, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said insurgents were likely to step up attempts to disrupt next month’s referendum on the country’s new constitution, adding the next three months were critical for the country’s future. "Nowhere are the goals of freedom, democracy and progress more at stake," Zubari told UN Security Council members at an open meeting on Wednesday. "We know our clear way forward, but we need your help. We need the help of every member nation and this organisation to win this fight. We stick together, or we lose together."

Unidentified men in a speeding car used machine guns to kill Col Fadil Mahmoud Mohammed, a local police commander, and his driver on Thursday morning as they drove on a highway in a town near Baquba, a city north of Baghdad, police said. Six people also were killed in the capital, including a man and two of his sons whose home in the New Baghdad area was raided by 25 gunmen dressed in police uniforms and black masks, said police Col Ahmed Abod. A second son was kidnapped. Abod said the father, Muhsin Akmosh Al-Timimi, had been working with foreign companies operating in Iraq.

In another drive-by shooting on Thursday morning, two policemen were killed and one wounded when their patrol was attacked in northeast Baghdad, said police Col Ahmed al-Alawi. A civilian working for a private company, Ali Salim, also was shot and killed while waiting outside his home in western Baghdad for a taxi to take him to work, said Dr Muhanned Jawad in Yarmuk hospital, where the victim was rushed after the drive-by shooting.

Basra’s Governor Mohammed al-Waili threatened to end all cooperation with British forces unless Prime Minister Blair’s government apologised for the deadly clash with Iraqi police. There has been disagreement about what exactly happened late on Monday, when British armour crashed into a jail to free two British soldiers arrested by Iraqi police and militiamen.

In London, British Defence Secretary John Reid and Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari tried to minimise the effect of the fighting, saying it would not undermine the relationship between the two nations or their determination to lead Iraq to peace and democracy. But the fighting raised new concerns about the power that radical Shia militias with close ties to Iran have developed in the region, questions about the role of Britain’s 8,500-strong force in Iraq and doubts about the timetable for handing over power to local security forces.

President George W Bush on Thursday rejected a growing chorus of calls for a swift US withdrawal from Iraq as he warned of escalating violence there ahead of an October constitutional referendum. "Some Americans want us to withdraw our troops so that we can escape the violence," he said in remarks after getting a briefing at the Pentagon. "I recognise their good intentions, but their position is wrong."

Bush’s comments came as he faced recent polls showing a collapse in popular support for the war as well as his handling of Iraq, and as anti-war protestors planned a major demonstration for Saturday in Washington. "Withdrawing our troops would make the world more dangerous and make America less safe. To leave Iraq now would be to repeat the costly mistakes of the past that led to the attacks of September the 11th, 2001," he said. agencies