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`Death squad' caught by troops in Iraq

US and Iraqi soldiers captured six members of an alleged "death squad" in Baghdad, hoping to quell the rampant sectarian violence dividing the capital. Attacks elsewhere in Iraq left at least 34 people dead.

US troops killed a suspected local al-Qaeda leader in Iraq and captured three of his followers during a raid near Beiji in northern Iraq, the US military said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile in Washington, President George W. Bush met Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at the White House to discuss the deteriorating security situation. Bush said a US military program to bolster Iraqi security forces in Baghdad will better address the violence there as he pledged to stand by Iraq's new democracy.

"He believes and I believe that there needs to be more forces inside Baghdad who are willing to hold people to account," Bush said during a joint news conference.

Bush said improved military conditions outside Baghdad will make it possible to move US military police and other forces to the capital.

Al-Maliki said the most important goal of his new security program introduced last month "is to curb the religious violence."

Representatives of Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups met in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to reconcile. Some 30 delegates representing Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and other smaller minorities participated in discussions sponsored by the Cairo-based Arab League.

The talks are intended to prepare for a national reconciliation conference in Baghdad next month. US officials believe control of Baghdad -- the political, cultural, transport and economic hub of the country -- will determine the future of Iraq.

"This is a duty for Iraqis to find out ways for ending this dilemma," said Arab League Undersecretary-General Ahmed Ben Heli, whose group sponsored the conference.

A US military statement said six suspected members of an alleged "death squad," including a cell leader, were detained during a pre-dawn raid on four buildings in Baghdad. It was not clear whether they are Sunnis or Shiites.

In the raid near Beiji in northern Iraq, a US statement said the al-Qaeda in Iraq suspect fled when he saw the US soldiers coming but the troops fired and killed him. The three other suspects were detained without incident and weapons and ammunition were found, the statement said.

Women and children were also found at the raid site but they were not harmed. The statement accused insurgents of continuing "to exploit Iraqi women and children by placing them in danger with their actions and presence."

In the town of Dujail, about 50km north of Baghdad, gunmen attacked a police checkpoint. In north Baghdad, a sports utility vehicle belonging to a private security company was ambushed, killing eight people.

The killings gripping the capital accelerated after the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra and have steadily increased despite the establishment of al-Maliki's national unity government in May.

"We are determined to defeat terrorism and the security plan for Baghdad has entered the second phase, and it's achieving its objectives in hunting the terrorists and networks, and eliminating it," al-Maliki said in Washington.

Many of the death squads are believed to be associated with either Sunni or Shiite armed groups, targeting rival sect members as part of a struggle for power between the country's two major religious communities.

US officials have avoided identifying death squads and militias by sect, preferring instead to refer to them as criminals and thugs. Iraq's army and police, which are heavily Shiite, have had trouble winning the trust of residents of majority Sunni neighborhoods.

More American troops will take to the streets to bolster Iraqi forces, especially in Sunni areas.
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