Iraqi PM blasts US over raid

He also slammed the top US military and diplomatic representatives in Iraq for their news conference yesterday, at which they said Iraq needed to set a timetable to curb violence ravaging the country. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said al Maliki had agreed.

“I affirm that this government represents the will of the people and no one has the right to impose a timetable on it,” Mr al Maliki said at a news conference.

The prime minister dismissed talk of timelines as driven by the upcoming midterm elections in the United States.

“I am sure that this is not the official policy of the US government, but it is a result of the election campaign and we are not much concerned with that,” the prime minister said.

At a White House news conference US President George Bush indeed confirmed that conditions or timetables could not be imposed on Mr al Maliki.

“He’s right. This is a sovereign government. But we’re working closely with the government to be able to say ’Here’s what’s going to happen then. Here’s what we expect to happen now. Here’s what should be expected in the future,’ “ Mr Bush said.

Yet Mr Bush said there were limits to US support for the Iraqi prime minister.

“I speak to him quite frequently, and I remind him we’re with him as long as he continues to make tough decisions. That’s what we expect,” he said.

Mr al Maliki, who is commander in chief of Iraq’s army, heatedly denied he knew anything about the Sadr city raid.

“We will ask for clarification about what has happened in Sadr City. We will review this issue with the multinational forces so that it will not be repeated. ...The Iraqi government should be aware and part of any military operation. Coordination is needed between Iraqi government and multinational forces,” he argued.

Mr Bush acknowledged that Mr al Maliki may not have been consulted before today’s attack.

“We need coordinate with him. That makes sense to me. And there’s a lot of operations taking place which means sometimes communications are not as good as they should be. And we’ll continue to work very closely with the government to make sure communications are solid,” Mr Bush said.

Tank cannons boomed out over the city five times in rapid succession this afternoon, and US F-16 jet fighters screamed low overhead as the conflict in Sadr City continued into the day.

Mortar rounds were also launched at the fortified Green Zone where US forces are headquartered, although there was no immediate word on damage or any casualties. US jets and helicopter gunships fired back and heavy clouds of black smoke could be seen rising from the area around Haifa Street, just blocks from the Green Zone that houses the US and British embassies, police said.

At least four people were killed and 18 injured in the overnight fighting in the overwhelmingly Shiite eastern district known as Sadr City, according to a local police commander, and Qassim al Suwaidi, director of the area’s Imam Ali Hospital.

Meanwhile, police in the southern Iraqi city of Kut tonight recovered the bodies of seven men bearing signs of torture typical of victims of sectarian death squads.

All seven men were handcuffed and had been shot multiple times, said Hadi al Atabi, an administrator at the morgue in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad. One of the bodies was identified as Mejdi Naor, an electric company security guard who had been reported kidnapped five days ago, Mr al Atabi said.

Police recovered the bodies in the Al-Khensa area of Suwayrah, a town to the north of Kut. The area lies in the Shiite heartland, where militias accused of operating death squads have clashed with each other and Iraqi security forces. In Baghdad, those groups have been accused of targeting rival Sunnis in a campaign of terror aimed at driving them mixed neighbourhoods of the capital.