IRAQ:In an incident that threatens to raise tensions between the United States and Iran, gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms have kidnapped an Iranian diplomat in Baghdad, Iranian and Iraqi officials said. Tehran blamed the US military and demanded his release.
Meanwhile, Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered Iraq's military commanders to speed up preparations for a US-backed crackdown in Baghdad after a string of attacks killed hundreds of people in recent days.
Addressing Iraqi generals yesterday over what he called a "delay" in a plan seen as a last-ditch effort to prevent Iraq from pitching into all-out civil war, Mr Maliki said: "I call on you to quickly finish the preparations so that we don't disappoint people." His words came three days after a suicide truck bomb killed 135 people in a Shia area of Baghdad in the worst single bombing since the US-led invasion in 2003.
There is growing frustration among Iraqis over the delay in launching the offensive that Mr Maliki first announced almost a month ago. Iraqi officials say the crackdown was due to have started this week but that Iraqi security forces asked for more time to get their troops in place.
A previous offensive last summer failed because too few Iraqi troops were committed. However, Mr Maliki has said the operation will target Shia and Sunni militants alike, answering criticism that last summer's crackdown failed partly because his Shia-led government stopped US troops going after Shia militias.
The new US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, a counter-insurgency expert, is due to arrive in the next few days. US president George Bush has committed 17,500 more troops to the Baghdad push.
In Sunday's kidnapping of the senior Iranian diplomat, Iraqi and Iranian officials said he was snatched by 30 gunmen wearing the uniforms of a special Iraqi army unit that works with US military forces. An Iraqi official said police close to the scene opened fire on the gunmen and arrested six of them. Later, another security force came to the police station and said they were taking the six to the serious crimes building in Baghdad but they never arrived there.
US forces in Iraq have arrested several Iranians, including diplomats, in the past two months, and are still holding five. Washington accuses Tehran of aiding militants fighting US forces in Iraq, and President Bush has vowed to disrupt such support. - (Reuters)