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Shiites brave bombs and bullets on pilgrimage

Iraqi Shiite pilgrims ran a gauntlet of bullets and bombs this weekend as they headed south for a major religious celebration, while political leaders in Baghdad bickered over a "unity" government.

One Iraqi civilian was killed in southern Baghdad by a roadside bomb, and at least five Shiite pilgrims were wounded by a separate roadside bomb in the Yarmuk neighborhood of western Baghdad yesterday, an interior ministry official said.

This followed the drive-by shooting that killed three pilgrims in the same area on Friday, while a roadside bomb claimed the life of one pilgrim and wounded four more south of the capital.

The string of attacks on pilgrims, making their way on foot to the main commemoration tomorrow in Karbala, 110km south of Baghdad, comes amid heightened sectarian tension in the aftermath of the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, and retaliatory attacks on Sunnis which left hundreds dead.

Tens of thousands of Iraq's Shiite majority are heading to Karbala for the annual commemoration of the end of the 40-day mourning period for Prophet Mohammed's grandson, Imam Hussein, killed near the city in 680.

US and Iraqi forces have bol-stered security and the US military has called up an additional battal-ion size force of 700 troops from Kuwait for the holiday.

Sunni Islamic extremists have repeatedly attacked Shiites on their religious holidays since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime three years ago.

In March 2004, at the start of the Ashura holiday, suicide bombings in Karbala and Baghdad killed more than 170 people.

Public display

In Baghdad, Iraqi Defense Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi said yesterday that six men suspected of involvement in the murder of a female journalist and her two-person crew from al-Arabiyah television in Dubai have been arrested.

"The six terrorists who killed the Iraqi television crew will be put on public display today or tomorrow," the defense minister said in a statement.

They were arrested in the course of "Operation Swarmer," a major Iraqi and US military sweep north of Samarra, which kicked off on Thursday.

The three Iraqi journalists -- presenter Atwar Bahjat, cameraman Adnan Abdullah and soundman Khaled Mohsen -- were kidnapped and murdered on the outskirts of Samarra, after traveling to the city to report on the bombing of the Shiite shrine on Feb. 22.

More violence

In other violence yesterday, eight policemen were wounded in two separate bomb attacks in the east and northeast of Baghdad, security officials said. A car bomb injured two civilians in the capital.

Two insurgents were killed and 19 others arrested, including a Jordanian, when Iraqi forces yesterday raided an area near Baqubah, northeast of the capital.

Political deadlock

In Baghdad, political leaders remained deadlocked in their talks on forming a broad-based coalition in the wake of the December general elections.

Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, whom the dominant Shiite Alliance would like to see head the next government, made clear yesterday he was opposed to diluting executive authority by handing over responsibility for security matters to a national security council which would include representatives from all major parties.

"Our recommendation is that it should be a consultative group and not interfere with executive authority," he told a news conference held jointly with Defense Minister Sadun al-Dulaimi and visiting British Defense Secretary John Reid.

The security council does not yet exist and its opponents argue there is no provision for it in the Constitution adopted in October.

Reid stressed that British forces would remain in Iraq "until the job is finished."

"The job will not be finished until the Iraqi government decides that it is willing, able and capable of maintaining its own security," he said.

"As soon as they indicate that to us and that they wish us to go, we will go," he said.
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