Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari set out a 12-point security
plan on Thursday to fight "the worst kind of war" waged by
insurgents but gave few details of how he would end daily
bloodshed.
Faced with suicide bombings, assassinations, sectarian strife and
growing questions from Iraqi voters - set for an election in under
five months - about when US troops will go home, Jaafari is keen to
show his government is taking control.
At a news conference, described in advance by his office as "very
important", Jaafari said he had seen an an improvement in the
abilities of Iraqi security forces.
He presented a broad strategy for defeating guerrillas waging a
campaign to topple his US-backed government, saying "we are at war,
the worst kind of war".
It included better intelligence coordination, the creation of a War
Information Office to undermine the support base of terrorists,
improved border security through closer cooperation and an economic
plan to defeat the insurgency.
Point Eight, as described in a statement from Jaafari's office,
was: "Encouraging increased participation in the political process
and launching initiatives for national unity."
The prime minister unveiled his plan hours after journalists
accompanied him to a police graduation ceremony in a southern town
where a suicide bomber had killed 125 people in February.
Iraq's new leaders came to power after a January election at which
they promised to defeat guerrillas.
But Iraqis have witnessed increasing violence and sectarian
tensions since the polls empowered Jaafari's Shi'ite-dominated
government and sidelined minority Sunnis who once formed Saddam
Hussein's power base.
Relentless violence
A roadside bomb that blew up an armoured amphibious assault vehicle
and killed 14 US Marines in northwest Iraq on Wednesday also
reminded the American military that the insurgency is still going
strong despite repeated offensives.
As Jaafari praised police graduates who along with military forces
are expected to take over from the American troops, insurgents
struck again in several cities.
A suicide bomber in a car attacked a police checkpoint in Baquba,
65 km north of Baghdad, killing at least four people, police
said.
Near the same town, insurgents stormed the home of an Iraqi
soldier, killing his wife, his 12-year-old daughter and his
6-year-old son as they lay asleep, police and survivors said.
Guerrillas also kept up assassinations of officials.
Haidar al-Dujaili, a public relations officer working with Deputy
Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, was killed near his Baghdad home,
said Chalabi's spokesman.
Jaafari's plan also called for a more efficient justice system to
ensure a quicker release of the innocent.
Iraqis say their security forces arbitrarily arrest people during
crackdowns and hold them for long periods. The government says
security forces are under orders to respect human rights.
Jaafari and other government officials have come under growing
pressure to improve Iraqi security forces to stabilise the country
so that widely resented US forces can leave.
A recent US military report said that half of Iraq's police and
army units were not capable of imposing security without American
support.
In spite of such grim assessments, Jaafari tried to raise the
spirits of the Iraqi policemen, who graduated knowing that hundreds
of their comrades have been killed.
"All the people of the world and their governments stand by you and
support you," he told them.
