US occupation forces shot dead seven Iraqis who "were trying to steal oil from a pipeline" in central Iraq last night. According to the US Army, a group of 40 men armed with AK-47 assault rifles in 10 to 15 vehicles were spotted at the pipeline by the troops who were led to the area by an Iraqi informant.
US troops, armed with M-16 rifles and 125mm cannons mounted on Bradley fighting vehicles, shot at them, killing seven, said army spokesman, Master Sergeant Robert Cargie. The remaining people escaped, he said on Monday.
The incident took place close to Samarra, some 100 kilometers north of Baghdad.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb on Monday went off near a US military convoy in Ramadi but occupation forces said no U.S. casualties were reported. Local residents said two Iraqis were killed when the Americans opened fire after the attack, The AP reported.
In another incident, one U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded Monday in a roadside bombing in the Iraqi capital, the U.S. command said.
Meanwhile, in a full-page advertisement on Monday, Iraq's top Shiite cleric reiterated his demand for the country's next legislature to be elected as he hardens his opposition to U.S. plans for regional caucuses.
The ad in the Iraqi newspaper, al-Zaman, quoted Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani as telling a delegation of tribal leaders that power must rest with Iraqis and "not outsiders."
Al-Sistani, whose views are highly influential among Iraq's Shiite majority, said Sunday the current U.S. plan to have regional caucuses select members of a provisional national assembly would give birth to an illegitimate Iraqi government.
On his part, US overseer Paul Bremer urged Iraq's Governing Council to press on with plans for the handover of power as set out in a November 15 agreement.
"We have said it is important to implement the November 15 agreement which was agreed by the Governing Council and has been submitted to the United nations as the best way forward for the return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people," Bremer on Monday told reporters in Baghdad.
Bremer said he had not spoken with Sistani. "The governing council is in discussions with the grand ayatollah. I have no direct contact with the ayatollah," he said.
On another issue, Bremer said the United States is opposed to the maintenance of armed militias by Iraqi political parties and groups vying to fill the country's power vacuum will have to lay down arms in a future democracy.
"In a unified Iraq there is no place for political parties having armed groups," Bremer told reporters.
"We have never announced that the coalition was in favor of militia," he said when asked to comment on the status of a reported U.S. plan to create an anti-terrorism group with the several militias that had opposed the regime of Saddam Hussein.
"We believe it is important for those militias that exist to be phased out as Iraq moves toward sovereignty," Bremer conveyed. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
