Dubai, Apr 12: As widespread looting continued in Baghdad, the US today announced that 1,200 police and judicial officials will go to Iraq to help restore order amid reports
that Kurdish fighters were withdrawing from the northern city of Kirkuk while fighting between Arabs and Kurds in Mosul left 15 to 20 people dead and over 200 wounded.
The US-led coalition, trying to restore calm in cities
wracked by violence and looting since the regime lost power,
called on Baghdad's police to return to work. US troops said
the restoration of law and order will become a higher
priority.
A correspondent reported that Shia Muslims were
fighting gun battles with their Sunni neighbours throughout
the capital.
In Washington, the State Department said it is sending
26 police and judicial officers to Iraq, the first component
of a team that will eventually number about 1,200, to help
restore order there. The group will be led by retired general
Jay Garner.
In Kirkuk, Kurdish fighters began withdrawing and US
forces are increasing their presence to establish control in
the city which is a centre of the oil industry in the north.
The move is vital to pacify Turkey which borders northern Iraq
and opposes any moves to create an independent Kurdish state.
In the northern city of Mosul, 15 to 20 people were
killed and over 200 wounded in fighting between Arabs and
Kurds, hospital sources said.
"There are more than 200 wounded at 15 to 20 dead Arabs
and Kurds since yesterday," said Muzahim Kawat, chief surgeon
at the city's emergency hospital.
US Marines claimed that they have discovered an enormous
cache of suicide bomb vests hidden in a school in a
residential neighborhood of central Baghdad.
The black leather vests with wires running along them
weighed about 8 kg and were filled with long rectangular
blocks of C4 plastic explosive and hundreds of ball bearings.
The United States is also offering cash rewards for
information that leads to the capture of Saddam Hussein,
leaders of his regime and weapons of mass destruction, the US
Central Command said in Qatar.
"Consistent with work we do in other parts of the world,
Afghanistan for example, a rewards programme has been
established for information leading to the capture of key
leaders" of the Baghdad regime, Brigadier General Vincent
Brooks said.
Coalition ground troops headed for Tikrit after overnight
air strikes pounded the home town of Saddam Hussein which
remains a possible stronghold for his regime.
US officials said marines in Baghdad recovered four
journalists from a hospital in Baghdad.
They said one was dead, one was unhurt and the other two
were taken to a field hospital south-east of Baghdad to be
treated for injuries they suffered at the Palestine hotel in
fighting as the US advanced to the centre of Baghdad last
Tuesday.
A US delegation plans to meet Iraqi opposition leaders
in Nasiriya on Tuesday to discuss an interim government.
Hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated in the centre of Baghdad
demanding urgent action to combat the wave of lawlessness that
has swept the city.
The protesters chanted slogans and carried placards
demanding tighter security to prevent looting.
Few medical or hospital support staff are reporting for
work and many patients have fled. Some aid groups still
operating in Baghdad are finding their work increasingly
dangerous and futile.
US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied Iraq was
falling into chaos.
"Free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes
and do bad things," he said.
"While no one condones looting, on the other hand one
can understand the pent-up feeling that may result from
decades of repression," he added.
Bureau Report
