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Attack on Iraq Interior Ministry kills 21
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-09 22:20
Their efforts seem to have forged an understanding between the main Shiite
religious bloc and al-Dulaimi's group — which represent two traditionally
hostile camps whose enmity often threatens to plunge Iraq into sectarian
warfare.
Shiite leaders have threatened reprisals against the minority Sunni Arabs
following twin suicide attacks that killed more than 100 people last week. They
have blamed the attacks on both the Sunni-Arab-led insurgency and some Sunni
Arab political groups they say openly support the militants.
Talabani said Saturday that Iraq's political groups could form a coalition
government within weeks — and some experts say the new government could be
formed next month.
Forming a viable broad-based government is a key American goal because such
an administration, if it includes Sunni Arabs, could help defuse the insurgency.
The U.S. military released more details about how a French hostage Bernard
Planche was freed Saturday, saying his captors fled as Iraqi army soldiers
searching for weapons caches approached a farmhouse west of Baghdad and he ran
to soldiers at a nearby checkpoint. Iraqi police on Sunday had said Planche had
been thrown out of a car approaching a checkpoint.
Planche, 52, who was working for a non-governmental organization he started
himself, was abducted Dec. 5. The Defense Ministry in Paris said Planche was
returning to France on Monday.
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