Iraq admits police massacred Sunni Arabs; Bush policy slammed by Talabani

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Iraq admits police massacred Sunni Arabs

by Mujahid Mohammed

MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - Iraq's embattled government admitted on Thursday that police were behind the vengeful slaughter of at least 70 Sunni Arabs in a northern town as soldiers uncovered further bodies of executed men.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has commissioned a government probe into a suicide bombing and killing spree that slaughtered 160 Iraqis in Tal Afar, issued an emotional appeal for unity amid fears of spreading sectarianism.

Gunmen, at least some of whom survivors charged wore police uniforms, went on a bloody rampage through the town's Sunni district of Al-Wahada after a presumed Sunni suicide bomber blew up a truck in a crowded Shiite district.

Interior Minister Jawad Bolani, himself a Shiite in the Shiite-dominated government, confirmed that the perpetrators of the furious shooting rampage came from the police force, which is overwhelming Shiite.

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Talabani lashes out at US policy in Iraq under 'occupation'

RIYADH (AFP) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on Thursday that the US-led invasion of his country four years ago had turned into an occupation with dire consequences for Iraq.

Talabani, a member of the Kurdish minority, which has been largely insulated from the violence and devastation visited on other parts of the country since Saddam Hussein fell, was addressing the Arab summit in the Saudi capital.

"The decision to turn the liberation of Iraq into an occupation ... with the dire consequences this had internally and the fears (it aroused) in Arab, regional and international arenas, all this was contrary to what Iraqi parties and national forces were planning at the time," he said.

"This applies equally to many hasty decisions and measures taken by the occupation's civil administration without understanding the Iraqis' point of view and the consequences they had on the situation in the country and the political process as a whole," he said.

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Putin urges deadline on foreign troops in Iraq

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin called Thursday for a deadline on the presence of foreign troops in Iraq in order to avert civil war.

Consultations with political and religious leaders were required, as well as "clear time limits for the foreign military presence in the country," Putin said in a statement sent to the Arab League summit in Riyadh.

"The situation in Iraq is of serious concern. In order to prevent the country from descending into full-scale civil war and disintegration, there must be real national reconciliation," Putin said.

Putin's comments came as Democrats in the United States ploughed ahead with efforts to force President George W. Bush to change course in Iraq, with a Senate vote due on a bill calling for US troops to pull out by next year.

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