Iraqi PM addresses nation

Iraq's new prime minister urged the nation yesterday to unite against a terrorist threat that he said posed the major risk to its independence and prosperity.

As Iyad Allawi made his first televised address, the US military announced the capture of a suspected lieutenant of al Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who they say is organising murder and sabotage to undermine the US-backed administration.

The most active of the sectarian militias that Mr Allawi vowed to disband struck a truce deal in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf with US forces, who agreed to pull back from sacred sites as radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army did likewise.

As Iraq appointed an electoral commission to organise its first free elections in January - the key task of Mr Allawi's interim government - yet more of the violence that threatens to derail the process struck in Baghdad.

Four US soldiers were killed, bringing the total combat death toll to 600.

"Defeating terrorism and terror is the duty of all Iraqis. I call on you to stand up against these criminal killers and to cooperate with state institutions to destroy this evil," Mr Allawi, a former CIA-backed exiled opposition leader said in a 15-minute address on the US-funded Iraqiya local television channel.

It is not clear how many of Iraq's 26 million people saw it but Mr Allawi was at pains to identify their concerns - lack of jobs and services like power, and the US military presence.

"We Iraqis can never accept occupation," he said, adding that in two to three years, the oil-rich nation could see an end to hardships.

Adopting a professorial air as he looked over the top of his spectacles, he stressed that the way to achieve true sovereignty and economic growth was not by fighting the Americans or Iraqi police but uniting to halt the violence and sabotage.

"These cowardly terrorist acts have delayed and will delay the return of normal life and destroy the national economy and the souls of the people and their daily bread."

He said controls on foreigners, abandoned with the fall of Saddam Hussein, would be restored to keep out the likes of Zarqawi, who is Jordanian, and other foreign militants.

Iraqi police seized a close aide to Zarqawi on May 30, the US military said. A spokesman said Umar Baziyani was providing information but gave no details of the arrest.

"His capture removes one of Zarqawi's most valuable officers from his network," Lieutenant Colonel Dan Williams said.

He said Baziyani was wanted in connection with a series of attacks on US and allied forces in Iraq, but gave no details.

The US military has a $10 million price on Zarqawi's head. In Najaf, peace seemed at hand after two months of fighting across Shi'ite southern Iraq. The city's governor said rebel cleric Sadr and US commanders agreed to withdraw forces.

Hailing the truce as a "breakthrough", US Colonel Brad May told CNN he would begin pulling back his troops from positions near the city's shrines to allow Iraqi police to take over.

Washington has been keen to resolve the conflict in Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa ahead of the planned transfer of formal sovereignty to Allawi's government on June 30.

The area was quiet for the first time in days yesterday after Shi'ite leaders, including politician Ahmad Chalabi, helped broker the latest truce attempt at talks on Thursday.