'In other violence, a U.S. soldier was gunned down late Saturday in a small arms fire attack in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul,
The death brought to at least 1,514 the number of members of the U.S. military who've died '
Two U.S. Contractors Killed in Iraq
Middle East - AP
By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two American security contractors were killed and a third wounded in a roadside bomb attack south of the Iraqi capital, the U.S. Embassy said Sunday. The three were working for Blackwater Security, a North Carolina-based contracting firm that provides security for U.S. State Department officials in Iraq (news - web sites).
They were attacked on the main road to Hillah, south of Baghdad, U.S. Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan said.
Two Iraqis were killed and five injured when a roadside bomb missed a U.S. convoy in al-Obeidi in southeastern Baghdad on Sunday, said Dr. Ali Karim of Kindi hospital, where the casualties were brought.
In the north, Kurdish leaders said they would go ahead with a deal they made with the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance last week to help form a coalition government when the National Assembly convenes on Wednesday.
"Talks between us did not fail. Both delegations went back to review the negotiations to enrich the talks and not fail them," said Fuad Masoum, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Interim Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, a Kurd, said the two sides were very close to reaching a comprehensive agreement, including the makeup of the coalition government, and denied reports that their power-sharing deal had collapsed.
"The Kurdish side will fully cooperate to reach a comprehensive agreement that will guarantee a national unity government for Iraq up to handling the upcoming challenges," Saleh told The Associated Press.
"There are some details that have to be determined soon and there are some loose ends regarding some details but at the same time there are many principles that were agreed upon," he added.
Interim Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd, said a Kurdish delegation was to meet with the alliance.
"We are going to Baghdad to continue discussion, we are very close to a final agreement. The meeting of the assembly on the 16th will take place as planned and there's no changes."
There were reports earlier in the day about Kurdish uncertainty over the deal with alliance. Although the causes were the uncertain, they seemed connected to Kurdish concerns over conservative Islamic Dawa party leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
The two camps are to publicly formalize their deal on Monday, two days before the assembly convenes for the first time since Jan. 30 elections.
"I can not say that the negotiations with the Kurds have collapsed, but no final agreement has been reached until now " said alliance member Ali al-Faisal.
The Kurds are thought to be concerned with al-Jaafari's conservative brand of Islam and that he may not be a strong supporter of federalism — which they have insisted on. Alliance deputy Ahmad Chalabi talked with Kurdish leaders on Saturday, and the two main Kurdish parties were meeting Sunday. Alliance leaders were also meeting in Baghdad.
In Sharqat, 260 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle on Saturday outside the house of the town's chief of special police forces, police Col. Jassim al-Jubouri said in Tikrit, further south. Four people were killed and several others were injured, he said.
In other violence, a U.S. soldier was gunned down late Saturday in a small arms fire attack in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. command said Sunday.
The death brought to at least 1,514 the number of members of the U.S. military who've died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Foreign contractors, too, are often targeted by anti-U.S. guerrillas. At least 232 American civilian security and reconstruction contractors were killed in Iraq up to the end of 2004, according to the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
The Blackwater employees killed Saturday were in the last vehicle in a four-vehicle convoy and were traveling to Hillah from Baghdad, Callahan said. A foreign security official said they were in a black Chevrolet Suburban. The road south traverses an area known as the "Triangle of Death" because of the frequency of insurgent attacks.
"I can confirm that two American employees of Blackwater Security were killed early yesterday afternoon on the road to Hillah when an IED exploded next to their vehicle, Callahan said Sunday.
An IED is a military acronym for an improvised explosive device, or homemade bomb.
Officials at Blackwater's headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina, could not be reached for comment.
In March 2004, four Blackwater employees were killed in the turbulent city of Fallujah, and two of the corpses were hung from a bridge, triggering a bloody three-week siege of the restive Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad soon afterward.
In Baghdad, Chalabi was meeting with alliance leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim to discuss the deal with the Kurds. Any U.S. exit strategy hinges on having a new government organize Iraq's army and police to take over responsibility for security.
Chalabi spent much of Saturday talking with Talabani, the Kurdish leader who is slated to become Iraq's next president. The Kurds had agreed that al-Jaafari would be Iraq's prime minister.
Kurds and alliance officials said both sides agreed that Iraq would not become an Islamic state, a desire also expressed by the country's most powerful Shiite cleric — Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
The Kurds won 75 seats in the 275-member National Assembly during Jan. 30 elections. The alliance won 140 seats and needs Kurdish support to assemble the two-thirds majority to elect a president, who will then give a mandate to the prime minister.
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Associated Press writers Rawya Rageh, Sameer N. Yacoub and Qasim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk contributed to this report. |
