Iraqi government talks continue

Iraq's ruling Shi'ite parties returned to negotiations with Sunnis and Kurds on forming a unity government yesterday but friction between the Shi'ites and US officials over a bloody military operation continued.

The Pentagon showed US lawmakers what it said was photographic evidence that at least 16 Iraqis killed in a raid on a mosque compound were militia fighters and not unarmed worshippers, as Shi'ite ministers and others have alleged.

President George W. Bush, whose cabinet was briefed on the situation by ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad from Baghdad, made clear his interest in seeing a new government, something many see as vital to efforts to avert a sectarian civil war.

But US officials denied comments from Shi'ite leaders that Mr Bush was pressing them to ditch their nominee to lead the new cabinet, interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who has crucial support from Iranian-backed Shi'ite factions.

Baghdad police found the bodies of 14 men, shot in the head execution-style, some of them blindfolded, in mainly Sunni west Baghdad. It was the latest sign of wide-scale sectarian killing, which US and Iraqi officials say has taken dozens of lives a day since a bombing at a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra a month ago.

Gunmen wounded 11 policemen and a woman bystander in an attack on a police station just south of Baghdad.

In three separate incidents in the capital, gunmen in police uniform abducted 19 people from business premises - two electronics shops and a currency exchange - and stole cash.

Minority Sunni Arabs, once dominant under Saddam Hussein, accuse the police and pro-government Shi'ite militias of waging a "dirty war" against them. The Shi'ite-led interim government denies that but admits some policemen act outside the law.

Mr Bush said after the cabinet meeting at the White House: "I'm pleased to hear... that the Iraqis are now back at the table discussing the formation of a government."

Representatives of the Shi'ite Alliance bloc, which has close to a majority in the new parliament elected in December, were back at talks at the Iraqi president's offices yesterday after staying away for a day following the controversial raid.