25 U.S. troops killed in Iraq Saturday

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The gunmen who killed five U.S. troops in the Shiite holy city of Karbala wore military uniforms and used vehicles commonly driven by foreign dignitaries — an apparent attempt to impersonate Americans, Iraqi officials said Sunday.

The local governor said the gunmen stormed into the provincial headquarters building during a U.S.-Iraqi meeting to discuss security measures ahead of the Shiite Ashoura festival.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, meanwhile, ended its nearly two-month political boycott after reaching a compromise over its demands for a timetable for Iraqi forces to take over security and the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

"We announce our return to parliament, we will attend today's session, and the ministers will resume their work to serve the people," Bahaa al-Araji, one of 30 lawmakers loyal to al-Sadr, said during a news conference attended by Sunni parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. Al-Sadr also has six loyalist ministers in the 38-member Cabinet.

The decision appeared to be a way for both sides to save face while allowing al-Sadr's bloc, whose support is crucial to Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, to regain legislative influence ahead of a planned U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in Baghdad.

The first reinforcements of U.S. troops under the new Bush strategy already have started to flow into the Baghdad region. A brigade of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, part of the buildup, has arrived in Baghdad and its 3,200 soldiers will be ready to join the fresh drive to quell sectarian violence in the capital by the first of the month, the American military said Sunday.

In Karbala, provincial Gov. Akeel al-Khazaali, who was not at the security meeting, said the SUVs were able to get through a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city, 50 miles south of Baghdad, because police assumed it was a diplomatic convoy and informed headquarters that it was coming.

"The group used percussion bombs and broke into the building, killed five Americans and kidnapped two others, then fled," the governor said, adding that Iraqi troops later found one of the SUVs with three bodies dressed in military uniforms.

The U.S. military, which has said that five U.S. soldiers were killed and three were wounded while repelling the attack, denied that two U.S. troops were kidnapped.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman, said all American forces "were accounted for after the action."

A security official in Karbala, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information to the media, said the convoy of gunmen drove to Babil province after the attack. The Babil police commander confirmed that they entered the region before disappearing.

Although Babil province is predominantly Shiite, some parts of it, just south of Baghdad, are Sunni and insurgents are known to be active there.

The deaths of the U.S. troops, combined with a helicopter crash that killed 12 U.S. soldiers, made Saturday the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years. It was also the third-highest of any single day since the war began in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 U.S. deaths on Jan. 26, 2005, and 28 on the third day of the U.S. invasion. U.S. authorities also announced two American combat deaths from Friday.

The heavy toll comes at a critical time of rising congressional opposition to President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the conflict to try to curb sectarian slaughter.

The U.S. military statement about the Karbala attack said "an illegally armed militia group" attacked the provincial headquarters building with grenades, small arms and "indirect fire," which usually means mortars or rockets.

"A meeting was taking place at the time of the attack to ensure the security of Shiite pilgrims participating in the Ashoura commemorations," said a statement from Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, deputy commander of the Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

Thousands of Shiite pilgrims are flocking to the city to mark the 10-day Ashoura festival commemorating the death of one of Shiite Islam's most sacred saints, Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Brooks said Iraqi officials and security forces as well as U.S. troops were present at the meeting, but his statement did not mention other casualties from the attack. It said the headquarters had "been secured by coalition and Iraqi security forces."

• A bomb left in a bag struck a small bus carrying people to work in a predominantly Shiite area in Baghdad, killing seven passengers and wounding 15.

• A parked car bomb also exploded outside a restaurant in eastern Baghdad, killing one person and wounding five, according to police.

• A suicide car bomber targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed one woman and wounded five other people in the northern city of Mosul.

Iraq Shi'ites reach political deal

By Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The political movement of Iraqi cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr said it would end a two-month boycott of parliament on Sunday, smoothing over a rift with its Shi'ite allies in the U.S.-backed government.

The political reconciliation with a group viewed with suspicion in Washington came the day after U.S. forces suffered one of their deadliest days in Iraq. A total of 19 soldiers were killed, including 12 on a helicopter and five in a clash in a Shi'ite holy city that the U.S. military blamed on militiamen.

Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been under pressure to crack down on the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to Sadr that the United States sees as the biggest threat to security in Iraq. But his past dependence on Sadr's political support has made that difficult.

The Sadrists announced a boycott in November to press their demand for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and to protest against a meeting between Maliki and President Bush.

"We are ending our boycott of the ministries and the parliament," Bahaa al-Araji, a senior member of the Sadrist group, told a news conference with the ruling Shi'ite Alliance.

Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said an all-party committee would discuss calls for a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw and the renewal of the U.N. mandate for the U.S. presence in Iraq, which has in the past been at the request of Baghdad.

"This is a new beginning," he told the news conference. "We want to say to the world that an Iraqi solution for Iraqi problems is the key, and others must support these solutions."

DEADLY DAY FOR U.S. FORCES

The U.S. military on Sunday revised the number killed in Saturday's Black Hawk helicopter crash from 13 to 12. It said another five soldiers were killed and three wounded in the clash at a government building in Kerbala.

It was unclear whether the helicopter was shot down. U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Josslyn Aberle said the cause was still under investigation.

Two other soldiers were killed elsewhere on Saturday.

It was the deadliest day for U.S. forces since Bush announced he was sending about 20,000 more troops to Iraq to try to prevent all-out sectarian civil war between Shi'ite Muslims and the once-dominant Sunni Arab minority.

His plans have run into resistance from opposition Democrats who now control Congress and skepticism in Washington about how far Maliki can make good on promises to disarm Shi'ite militias.

The U.S. military said on Sunday a brigade of around 3,200 soldiers had arrived in Baghdad, the first of some 17,000 planned reinforcements for the city, and it would be fully operational by the start of February.

The Kerbala clash came as pilgrims converged on the city 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad at the start of the 10-day rite of Ashura, a high point of the Shi'ite calendar and a previous target for attacks by al Qaeda and other Sunni militants.

"The Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Kerbala was attacked with grenades, small arms and indirect fire by an illegally armed militia group," the U.S. military said in a statement, apparently blaming Shi'ite militiamen rather than Sunni insurgents to whom it usually refers as "terrorists."

"Five U.S. soldiers were killed and three wounded while repelling the attack," it said without mentioning attackers killed or detained.

U.S. officials said no more about the identity of the assailants. "We do know they're militiamen but we're not going to go any further than that," Major Steven Lamb said, adding investigations were continuing.

Kerbala Governor Aqil al-Khazali said it appeared the attackers were masquerading as Americans, but did not identify them. He said 8,000 police and soldiers were on hand to provide security for Ashura.

Relations have become strained between Washington and the Iraqi government as the United States presses Baghdad to rein in Shi'ite militias blamed for death squad killings and tries to limit the influence of neighboring Shi'ite Iran.

Maliki vowed this month to crack down on both Shi'ite and Sunni gunmen in a major U.S.-backed operation. Sadr enjoys a mass following in Iraq and some backing from Iran.

In other violence on Sunday, a roadside bomb killed one British soldier and wounded four in the southern city of Basra, the British military said.

(Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons, Alastair Macdonald and Mariam Karouny)

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