Iraqi lawmakers pass long-delayed election law
The deadline for provincial votes is Jan. 31, 2009. In Baqubah, an ambush on a police checkpoint leaves 22 dead.
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's lawmakers today overcame months of infighting to approve legislation paving the way for provincial elections, but an attack that killed 14 policemen and eight U.S.-allied paramilitary fighters showed the challenges ahead as insurgents try to derail political progress.
The bill, approved unanimously by legislators, said elections should take place by Jan. 31, 2009. The date is later than U.S. officials had hoped. They have urged elections this year to more evenly spread power among Sunni Arabs, Shiite Muslims, and Kurds in areas where the division of power is lopsided.
The law will delay voting in the volatile mixed region of Kirkuk, which Kurds want to annex to their semiautonomous Kurdistan region. The inability to decide on Kirkuk's future had led to the bill not being passed earlier. But a deal was reached to delay voting there until details on voter registration and other issues can be resolved.
Elections have been cited as key to holding on to security gains made in Iraq in the last 18 months, but today's ambush in Diyala province underscored the difficulty of sustaining that progress. Diyala has remained a stronghold of Sunni extremist groups such as Al Qaeda in Iraq, despite repeated Iraqi and U.S. military offensives.
The U.S. military said the death toll was 14 policemen; as well as eight members of the Sons of Iraq movement. Police officials in Baghdad said two colonels and a lieutenant colonel were among the dead police officers.
The military said rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns were used in the attack.
The Sons of Iraq movement comprises mainly Sunnis who have rejected Al Qaeda in Iraq and allied with U.S. and Iraqi forces. The fighters, who receive $300 a month for their service, have been targeted for working with the Iraqi and American forces. More than 460 have been killed in the last year, according to the U.S. military.
Baqubah police said the attack began about 3 p.m. after an Iraqi police patrol had set up a checkpoint in a southern Baqubah neighborhood. Armed men ambushed the checkpoint, killing at least one policeman and injuring five. When the unit under attack called for help, the reinforcements were ambushed, which led to the additional deaths.
tina.susman@latimes.com
Times special correspondents in Baghdad and Baqubah contributed to this report.
