Police said the casualties, all majority Shiites, appeared to be the latest
victims of sectarian attacks by minority Sunni Arabs in Diyala province.
On Monday, al-Maliki was asked whether the surge in sectarian violence in
Iraq, which has prompted thousands of Iraqis to flee their homes, constitutes
civil war.
"There are rebellious elements. There are gangs killing people. There are
gangs that have used arms for political blackmailing or to achieve goals that
have political dimensions," he said. "But those groups have failed to ignite a
civil war."
Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, meanwhile, said the
gradual assumption of security duties by Iraqi forces is a good opportunity for
insurgents to discuss their future roles with the Americans and British.
While he maintained that Iraqis have a legitimate right to resist coalition
occupation, he also said insurgents, most of whom are believed to be Sunnis,
should consider talking to the Americans and British since there are "real
signs" those nations apparently are considering eventually withdrawing their
forces.
"Such signals are enough to sit down and discuss the ways for withdrawing
these forces and what the role of the national resistance would be after
restoring the sovereignty," al-Hashimi said on Baghdad TV, which is owned by his
Iraqi Islamic Party.
However, handing over security responsibilities to the Iraqis does not
necessarily mean that significant numbers of U.S.-led forces will start
returning home soon. Instead, plans call for them to move from cities to large
coalition bases as part of an intermediate stage — where they will be on call if
the Iraqis need them.
In another development, Jordan announced Monday the arrest of an unidentified
al-Qaida in Iraq official who allegedly had participated in kidnappings and
killings and robbed commercial trucks driving between Jordan and Iraq.
The suspect was an Arab, most likely from Iraq, where he was arrested, said
Jordanian security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were
not authorized to speak to the media. In Baghdad, Lt. Col. Ali Rashid said
Iraq's Interior Ministry had no information about the arrest and was not
involved in the operation.
