US hands over ministry as violence in Iraq continues
MOSUL: March 28: A British national was killed in fresh violence on Sunday, as US overseer Paul Bremer handed over the keys of the first ministry to Iraqi officials as part of a gradual handover of power by June 30.
Iraqi police said two Britons died in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Mosul. The attack by masked men occurred just 150 metres (yards) from the power station serving the east of Mosul where the men worked.
But Britain's Foreign Office said the second person shot in the incident was not British. "We can confirm that one Briton was killed today in Mosul," a spokesman told AFP. "We understand that there was a second person killed but who is not a British national."
Elsewhere, a US soldier and at least five Iraqis were wounded in separate bomb attacks across the restive country, police said. A roadside bomb near the flashpoint town of Fallujah seriously damaged one vehicle as a US military convoy passed by, an eyewitness said.
In Baghdad, Bremer turned over the keys of the first of Iraq's 25 ministries to interim health minister Khidr Abbas at a ceremony, less than a fortnight before the first anniversary of the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime.
"You are in the driver's seat on the road to sovereignty," said Bremer, who was expected to hand over sovereignty of three other ministries by April 1 as part of the transition process.
And on another positive note, planning minister Mehdi Hafez said Iraq's inflation rate had halved over the past three months, but crucial foreign aid was still being stifled by the continued fighting and US-led occupation.
"Inflation is now 28 per cent," the minister told AFP. Amid relentless clashes that killed nine people on Saturday, US troops continued to conduct 'offensive operations' to track down insurgents in the 'Sunni Triangle' northwest of Baghdad.
US troops and Iraqi paramilitary forces sealed off two large parts of Samarra on Sunday, a day after three soldiers were wounded in a roadside bombing in the town.
A paramilitary officer who did not wish to be identified told AFP that the move was part of a major counterinsurgency offensive in the mainly Sunni Arab town, which has been a hotbed of anti-coalition violence.
A US military statement said on Saturday that US marines were also "conducting offensive operations in Fallujah in order to foster a secure and stable environment for the people of Al-Anbar" province.
On the political front, Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, a prominent member of the interim Governing Council, said he was due to meet later on Sunday with a visiting UN team on holding elections, conducting a census and assembling a caretaker government set to rule when sovereignty returns to Iraqis at the end of June.
"I am due to meet with the UN technical team in the afternoon, but it will not be open to the press. It is a closed meeting," he said. The UN mission's visit began on Friday amid political wrangling over the country's interim constitution.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, six local Turkmen leaders quit the city council, further exacerbating ethnic tension a week after a similar move by their Arab colleagues.
Turkmen councillor Mustafa Yaishi said the city was being 'overtaken' by Kurds, and called for the dismissal of Kirkuk's governor and US military intervention "to drive away armed Kurdish militias".
Iraq meanwhile suffered another missed opportunity when the Arab summit in Tunis that had been due to start on Monday was postponed indefinitely. The Governing Council had pinned great hopes on the summit "sending a high-ranking delegation to inform Arab leaders about details of the political process, including the elections and the transfer of power," Rubaie told AFP. "We strongly regret this postponement because the Arab nation is passing through a delicate and dangerous phase," he said. -AFP
