Shiite group agrees to renounce violence in Iraq

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD – An extremist Shiite group believed responsible for the killing of five American soldiers in a bold raid south of Baghdad and the kidnapping of five British men has agreed to renounce violence, a government adviser said Monday.

The deal was reached during a weekend meeting between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and representatives of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, a group the U.S. alleges is backed by Iran and refuses to adhere to a militia cease-fire.

The group promised to lay down its weapons and join the political process, according to government aide Sami al-Askari, who was at the meeting. In return, al-Maliki promised to seek the release of the detainees in U.S. custody, al-Askari said.

The deal comes as the Shiite-led Iraqi government moves increasingly to assert its sovereignty and solidify its power base ahead of national elections scheduled for January. The U.S. military also has seen its influence wane as it begins to pull back its troops with plans for a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.

The transformation of the remaining Shiite militant groups into political organizations would be a significant development for Iraq as it prepares for the end of the U.S. military role. It also could boost Tehran's leverage in the neighboring country, although Iran's government denies any links to Shiite extremists in Iraq.

Iraqi politicians with links to the Asaib al-Haq have said the group wants to participate in next year's parliamentary vote, either by fielding its own ticket or backing candidates from other Shiite parties.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh also confirmed the deal, according to Iraqi state television.

"The delegation of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq group announced its support for the political process, renounced violence and offered support for efforts to achieve national unity," he told reporters. "Both sides agreed to solve the pending problems, especially the issue of detainees whose hands have not been stained with Iraqis' blood and who have no criminal evidence against them."

Several high-profile Shiite detainees have been released from American custody this summer, including key Asaib al-Haq member Laith al-Khazali in June. He and his still-detained brother, Qais, were accused of organizing a daring attack on a local government headquarters in Karbala that killed five U.S. soldiers on Jan. 20, 2007.

The U.S. military has been freeing inmates or transferring them to Iraqi custody as part of a security pact that took effect on Jan. 1.

Al-Khazali's release was widely believed to be part of negotiations for the release of five British hostages captured two years ago in a raid on Iraq's Finance Ministry that was blamed on the group.

However, the bodies of two of the kidnapped contractors were found and returned to England earlier this summer, and Britain said last week that two others were likely dead. The IT consultant the contractors had been guarding, Peter Moore, is believed to be alive.

A cease-fire called by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr after his forces were routed in American-backed Iraqi government offensives has been a key factor in ebbing the rampant sectarian violence that pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

But Asaib Ahl al-Haq and other Shiite extremist factions broke with al-Sadr, raising fears that the bloodshed could resume.

The group's main liaison with the government, Salam al-Maliki, said only that many issues were discussed.

"The Iraqi government is getting its full sovereignty on Iraqi land, especially after signing the security pact and accelerating the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq," he told state television.

The Shiite militia cease-fire, along with a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq and a 2007 U.S. troop buildup have led to a sharp decline in attacks nationwide. But a series of recent bombings has raised fears that violence could resurge.

A suicide car bomber struck a police checkpoint Monday in Saqlawiyah, west of Baghdad, killing at least three people and wounding seven in the seventh attack in Anbar province in two weeks. A total of 24 people have been killed in the series of bombings that began on July 20.

Provincial security official Sheik Efan Saadoun blamed political rivalries for destabilizing the situation and said the Americans pulled back too fast. The U.S. military maintains a presence in the region and has said it is ready to help if requested.

"We lack the military and the security power they enjoy in controlling movement at the main security checkpoints in addition to their sophisticated detection instruments," Saadoun said. "We were extremely dependent on the Americans in this field."

In other violence reported by police Monday, roadside bombs killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded four others in separate attacks in the northern city of Mosul. Bombs also exploded on two buses leaving the mainly Shiite city of Hillah, killing two people and wounding 25 south of Baghdad.

Separately, Iraq said it has arrested a man suspected of killing a well-known Iraqi TV journalist who was abducted while covering the Feb. 22, 2006 bombing of a Shiite mosque north of Baghdad.

Atwar Bahjat of the Dubai-based Al-Arabiyah and two colleagues were abducted while covering the bombing in her hometown of Samarra that set off years of sectarian violence. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found the next day outside the city, north of Baghdad. All three were Sunni Arabs, but the station has a reputation as being critical of Iraq's Sunni insurgency.

Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed the arrest but provided no other details.

Journalists have frequently been targeted or caught up in Iraq's violence.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded 139 journalists and 51 media support workers killed since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

NKorea: ex-President Bill Clinton in Pyongyang

By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made a surprise trip to North Korea on Tuesday amid an international standoff over the country's nuclear program and concerns about two U.S. reporters imprisoned in Pyongyang since March.

Clinton landed in Pyongyang on Tuesday and was greeted at the airport by North Korean officials, including chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's state news agency said in a brief dispatch. "A little girl presented a bouquet to Bill Clinton," the report said.

His visit comes amid heightened tensions over North Korea's string of nuclear and missile tests in defiance of U.N. resolutions, and calls from Washington for amnesty for the two reporters.

Ling and Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV media venture, were arrested in March while on a reporting trip to the Chinese-North Korean border. They were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor for entering the country illegally and engaging in "hostile acts."

In New York, the Clinton Foundation did not immediately return calls, and Gore's spokeswoman, Kalee Kreider, said she could not comment. At the White House, Deputy Press Secretary Tommy Vietor said he had no comment.

In California, Lee's husband, Michael Saldate, declined to comment. A message left for Iain Clayton, Ling's husband, was not returned Monday evening.

Clinton would be the second former U.S. president to visit North Korea; Jimmy Carter visited Pyongyang in 1994, when Clinton was in office, and met with then-North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, late father of current leader Kim Jong Il.

That visit came amid spiraling nuclear tensions — and led to a breakthrough accord between the two sides months later.

Analysts have said the communist regime is expected to use the detained reporters as a negotiating card to win concessions from Washington.

5 rockets hit Afghan capital, 1 near US Embassy

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – At least five rockets slammed into Kabul at daybreak Tuesday, one of them falling near the U.S. Embassy in a rare attack on the Afghan capital fewer than three weeks before presidential elections, police and residents said.

The explosions, heard by AP reporters, occurred to the east of the city, toward the international airport and near several residential areas.

The impact of one of the rockets could be seen about 200 yards (meters) from the U.S. Embassy on a main road in central Kabul. It hit the house of a senior Interior Ministry official but caused no casualties, security officers said.

At the scene, Maj. Ghulam Rasul of the Afghan national army said he believed the rockets were of the long-range BM1 type, which can be fired from portable rocket launchers positioned on the ground several miles from their target. "The capital is closely guarded. They had to fire from far away," Rasul said.

Col. Fatih Uddin, the security chief at the damaged Interior Ministry house, estimated the building probably wasn't the main target of the attack. "Of course, it seems that the target was more the American Embassy," Uddin said.

The U.S. Embassy strongly questioned whether this was the case.

"There's no indication these rockets were targeting any particular site in Kabul," embassy spokeswoman Fleur Cowan said. She said the embassy had not implemented any special security measures Tuesday beyond its usual response in cases of indirect fire.

Kabul's deputy police chief, Mohammad Khalil Dastyar, said it was too early to ascertain what the attackers were aiming for.

Dastyar said seven rockets _rather than the five most people heard_ had been fired from the northeast of Kabul a few minutes before 5 a.m.

He blamed Taliban fighters for the attack. "They're just trying to sabotage and create tension in Kabul," Dastyar said. Police have found that only one child was injured by the rockets, he said. No damage was caused to any parts of the international airport.

Standing next to a damaged house near the U.S. Embassy, witness Abdul Wali Zai said it was lucky that the attack took place in the early morning when streets were still largely empty. Since there were no injuries, he said the rockets wouldn't affect Kabul residents who have experienced three decades of fighting.

"Our morale is very high because it is close to the election," Wali Zai told Associated Press Television News.

A few rounds of sporadic gunfire came shortly after the rockets. A police officer in eastern Kabul said that it was not clear why the shots had been fired but that security forces were all on alert. The police officer requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

"It was very loud, just as we were praying," said Kabul resident Ismail Khan, who said he was conducting Islam's dawn prayer when the rockets went off in close succession nearby.

Though bombings, suicide attacks and gunbattles frequently take place across much of Afghanistan, Kabul has been relatively spared from the violence.

The attack Tuesday came as Afghans braced for key presidential and local councilor elections later this month. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the Aug. 20 vote, and 11 people were killed in a bombing Monday in Herat, western Afghanistan's largest city.

Some 101,000 NATO and U.S. forces are deployed to secure the country. This includes a record 62,000 U.S. troops, more than double the number a year ago.

Nine NATO troops have been killed in fighting or bombings this month, including three Americans on Sunday and three on Saturday, along with two Canadians and one French.

July was the deadliest month for international troops since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban's hard-line Islamist government for sheltering al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.