Sister of Iraqi vice president shot dead By Terry Friel
Thu Apr 27, 4:18 AM ET
Gunmen killed a sister of one of Iraq's vice presidents on Thursday, the latest high level assassination, as Washington's top diplomatic and defense officials visited to underscore support for a new government.
Meysoun al-Hashemi, sister of Sunni Arab Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, was gunned down in her car. Hashemi's brother was killed on April 13 and the brother of another leading Sunni politician was also kidnapped and killed this month.
Last October, the brother of the other vice president, Shi'ite Adel Abdul Mahdi, was also killed.
The latest murder came as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Baghdad to underline the importance Washington puts on Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki and his efforts to form a coalition government.
"I think it's fair to say that all these Iraqi leaders recognize the challenges before them, recognize that the Iraqi people expect their government to be able to meet those challenges," Rice told reporters at the U.S. embassy in the heavily guarded Green Zone.
"Obviously, the key now is to get the government up and running, to get ministers who are capable and who also will reflect the value of a national unity government, and then to get about the work of dealing with the security situation, dealing with the economic situation."
LEADERS 'FOCUSED, SERIOUS'
She said the government representatives they met, including Maliki, outgoing prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and former prime minister Iyad Allawi, were "focused" and "serious."
Last weekend, President Jalal Talabani asked Maliki to form a government drawing together majority Shi'ite Muslims, Sunni Arabs and Kurds in a bid to end a bloody insurgency and mounting sectarian violence that threaten to drag Iraq into civil war.
President Bush, who has strongly urged a unity government, sent Rice and Rumsfeld to the Iraqi capital to talk with Maliki, underlining the importance Washington places on his success in forming a government that Rice said must have a "non-sectarian mindset."
The pair arrived separately on Wednesday and Rice left on Thursday for Bulgaria, where she was attending a NATO foreign ministers' meeting, while Rumsfeld was heading for Washington.
Maliki, a tough-talking Shi'ite, says he wants to announce his government within two weeks. But he has up to a month from last weekend to present his team for parliament's approval.
In his efforts to bring all groups together, Maliki was due to travel to the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf to meet top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayotollah Ali al-Sistani, whose blessings and guidance are crucial for Iraqi Shi'ite leaders.
In one of the worst recent attacks on U.S.-led forces, two Italian soldiers and a Romanian were killed on Thursday when a roadside bomb ripped through their convoy in southern Iraq, the Italian defense ministry said.
The explosion occurred in the city of Nassiriya, where the Italian contingent in Iraq is based. Italy has about 2,600 troops in Iraq which it plans to withdraw by year-end. |
