IRAQ: Bomb attacks in Baghdad are at an all-time high, according to the US military, as one of the capital's frontline police units was pulled off the streets yesterday on suspicion of being involved in sectarian death squads.
Thousands of police face criminal vetting and lie detectors as part of a "retraining" process to weed out militia killers, who have used the cover of their uniforms to kidnap, torture and commit mass murder, US officials said.
The order to move the 8th national police brigade into barracks and arrest one of its commanders came a day after the prime minister, Nuri al- Maliki, unveiled a sketchy deal with Sunni leaders and fellow Shias to try to stem violence. However, there was still no sign of talks to provide substance.
Fourteen people were killed and 75 wounded when a car bomb struck a government motorcade in Baghdad. Police said the industry minister, a Kurd, was in the motorcade but aides said no senior officials were in the convoy. A spokeswoman for the minister, Fawzi al-Hariri, said drivers and bodyguards for one of his deputies were taking the cars for fuel when the attack happened. She said two of the bodyguards were killed.
US spokesman Maj Gen William Caldwell said the number of car bombs in Baghdad hit their highest level of the year last week and that bombs were "also at an all-time high".