- (Agencies) -- The president of Iraq's Governing Council
said the death toll in yesterday's attacks at Shia shrines in the Baghdad
and Karbala had risen to 271 with 393 people injured.
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- Council President Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum gave the figure
during a press conference following the near simultaneous bombings at Baghdad's
Kazimiya shrine and holy sites in Karbala.
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- US officials, however, lowered their estimate of the
number of dead from 143 to 117. It was impossible to reconcile the discrepancy
immediately.
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- Shia Muslim mourners chanted slogans against the United
State, venting their anger at Iraq's instability as the country began three
days of mourning.
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- Officials said 15 people, some possibly Iranians, were
detained in the attacks.
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- The draft constitution drawn up this week by Iraq's leading
politicians and the US-led administration will be signed on Friday..
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- Governing council president Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum said
that the document would be signed at 4pm at the end of the period of mourning.
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- US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said 15 people were
detained in Karbala after the blasts after being pointed out by witnesses.
Some of had been seen with wooden carts used to bring in loads of explosions.
"We think these people were involved, and that's why they're being
interrogated," he said.
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- Britain's senior envoy in Iraq today predicted that UK
and US troops would remain in the country for at least two years to cope
with the threat to security.
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- Sir Jeremy Greenstock predicted "bloody" days
in the run-up to the handover of sovereignty to a local authorities at
the beginning of July, as those opposed to democratic government sought
to derail the process.
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- He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The intention
to intensify violence in the months leading up to the handover of authority
was expected and is very difficult to stop.
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- "This is a crunch period for the future of Iraq.
Iraqi society has got to realise that they have got to unite against it."
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- The transitional law agreed by the Iraq Governing Council
earlier this week was a vital step towards a democratic state, said Sir
Jeremy.
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- Yesterday's attacks in Baghdad and Karbala, which killed
more thhan 160 people, were part of "the last desperate struggle of
the violent people to try to destroy this before we hand over power".
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- Sir Jeremy's remarks came as the Prime Minister condemned
the latest terrorist atrocities in Iraq and Pakistan and warned there was
"literally a fight between the forces of good and the forces evil"
going on.
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- Tony Blair told the Commons that yesterday's attacks
were "calculated acts of evil" designed to foment religious strife.
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- He pledged to work with the authorities in both countries
to ensure "this evil barbarism is eliminated from all parts of our
world".
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- Tory leader Michael Howard joined in sending sympathy
and condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the "horrific"
attacks.
-
- He said: "We have a continuing duty to the people
of Iraq to do everything we can to help them build a stable and peaceful
country."
-
- As the bombings in Iraq and Pakistan dominated question
time exchanges, Mr Blair rejected a fresh call from Liberal Democrat leader
Charles Kennedy to publish the full advice of the Attorney General on the
legal justification for war in Iraq.
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- The Prime Minister also told the Commons he was unable
to confirm reports that police and British troops in Basra had captured
four suspected bombers before they were able to carry out further carnage.
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- Mr Blair said: "I'm sure the whole House will join
me in sending our deepest sympathy to the people of Iraq where 150 or more
innocent men, women and children were killed yesterday by terrorism and
to Pakistan, where in a similar attack, over 40 innocent people died.
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- "Both were calculated acts of evil. Both were attacks
designed to foment religious strife. The attack in Iraq was plainly designed
to stop the progress Iraq is making towards a stable democratic state under
the sovereignty of the Iraqi people and it has been condemned by Muslim
leaders, Sunni and Shia alike.
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- "Our pledge to the people of Iraq and Pakistan is
to work with them to ensure this evil barbarism is eliminated from all
parts of our world."
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- He said there was a struggle "between Iraqi people,
who are trying to make their country better, helped by the Americans, the
British and 30 other countries .... and these brutal, evil terrorists who
are prepared to kill any number of people in order to stop that progress
being made.
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- "It literally is a fight between the forces of good
and the forces of evil and we should be immensely proud of the part this
country and our troops are playing in that struggle."
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- Sir Jeremy said he was "amazed" by the determination
of Iraqi people to rebuild their society in the face of repeated terror
attacks.
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- "It is that determination to create a new Iraq that
we are depending upon and fostering by our presence here," he said.
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- "We will stay here after June. We are not going
to leave."
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- Asked how long British troops would be in Iraq, he responded:
"My prediction is at least another two years, maybe more than that.
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- "They will come down in numbers as the Iraqi capacity
grows. There will be a correlation between those things.
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- "But as in the Balkans, we will need to be around
for longer than we originally planned. I think Britons and Americans need
to realise that.
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- "We have got a job to do and we are going to finish
it.
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- "Obviously, the security situation is going to be
nasty and we always predicted that.
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- "There will be further bad days before we are through
with this, but the determination of both the coalition and the peaceful
majority in Iraqi society has been quite impressive so far, and I am counting
on that," Sir Jeremy said.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=497392
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