Iraq violence kills 17 including women, children (Roundup)

Aug 21, 2007, 13:55 GMT

Baghdad - A total of 17 people, mostly civilians, were killed in and around Baghdad on Tuesday in a new wave of violence. The victims included women and children.

In one incident, nine civilians belonging to one family were killed north of Hilla, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad. According to the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), a group of unidentified gunmen stormed a house and opened fire on its residents.

The motive for the attack was not yet clear.

The dead include three women, a 12-year-old child and a six-month- old infant. Two people were wounded.

Separately, six civilians were killed and five wounded by US army fire on Tuesday, witnesses in northern Baquba's al-Khalis district said.

Speaking to the local news agency, residents claimed that violence broke out during a protest over 'deteriorating security conditions and services.'

Eyewitnesses said that clashes had occurred between the soldiers and the protestors, after which the US side opened fire.

The incident was not confirmed by the US military.

In a further incident, at least two people were reported killed and 14 others wounded, including three women, when a roadside bomb detonated near a passenger bus in southern Baghdad.

'The explosive device went off a short while after a US patrol had passed Baghdad al-Jadida (New Baghdad),' a police source told VOI.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi army announced on Tuesday that their forces captured a group of 50 militants from the town of Latifiyah, 60 kilometres south of Baghdad, Iraqi army sources said.

The forces had cordoned the town for more than four hours early Tuesday, performing a man-hunt for suspected terrorists and militants involved in kidnappings of Iraqis. Several weapons caches were confiscated.

On a different note, an Iraqi civilian saved the lives of four US soldiers and eight Iraqis by sacrificing himself in thwarting a suicide attacker, the US military command reported early Tuesday.

The man was killed in the blast when the attacker rushed towards a meeting Saturday between the US soldiers and members of a form of civilian defence force in Arafiyah in southern Baghdad, the statement said.

'If he hadn't intercepted him, there is no telling how bad it could have been,' one of the soldiers saved by the man's actions was quoted as saying.

The US military also killed five suspected insurgents on Saturday in the south-east of the city, the report said.

In political developments, the so-called Sadrist bloc, loyal to Shiite radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, proposed Tuesday a new political initiative that could possibly end country's impasse, a Sadrist legislator told VOI.

The Sadr bloc have walked out of Premier Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet after the latter failed to force the US military to set a timeline for withdrawal.

'The initiative rests on collective participation and is composed of a consultative body to consider critical decisions in the country,' Falah Shanshal said.

'The body would comprise 15 persons from all political groups based on parliamentary representation,' he added.

He claimed that their initiative so far have been met with approval by most representatives of the political blocs.

'All minorities will be represented in this suggested consultative body,' Shanshal said, adding that the decisions of the body, which will mainly monitor the work of state institutions, would be debated in parliament or by the cabinet.

Throughout the last week, five-way meetings among leaders including al-Maliki took place ahead of a 'crisis' political meeting. The agenda for the upcoming parley, aimed at saving the government from collapsing, was set but no venue or a date have been announced.

The preparatory talks have so far produced a new 'moderate' government coalition, but have seen continuing differences between different political blocs.

The coalition excluded the Sunnis, as well as radical Shiites and secular forces.