US kills al-Qaeda chief who planned destruction of beloved Shiite shrine

AMERICAN forces in Iraq said yesterday they had killed the mastermind of an attack on a gold-domed Shiite shrine last year that triggered the worst phase of the country's spiral into sectarian violence.

US forces blamed the pivotal 2006 attack on Samarra's al-Askari mosque on Haitham al-Badri, the top al-Qaeda leader in Salahuddin province.

US and Iraqi leaders also blame Badri for a second attack on the same shrine seven weeks ago which toppled its minarets.

Rear-Admiral Mark Fox told a news conference that Badri and several other gunmen were strafed by a US helicopter when they were seen preparing an ambush east of Samarra.

"Badri's body was positively identified by close associates and family members," Rear-Admiral Fox said.

"Eliminating Badri is another step in eliminating the cycle of violence. We will continue to hunt down those terrorists intent on creating a Taleban-like state."

Washington painted a picture of a successful campaign against the Sunni militant group al-Qaeda in Iraq, notably in Salahuddin, which encompasses the mainly Sunni towns and villages in the fertile Tigris valley north of Baghdad.

US forces said a week-long Iraqi police crackdown on al-Qaeda in Samarra had netted 80 suspects. Among the other al-Qaeda figures reported captured in the province were the group's local leaders for the cities of Samarra and Tikrit, home town of executed leader Saddam Hussein.

The US military said last week it had killed the al-Qaeda leader in Mosul in Nineveh province further north. US and Iraqi officials frequently say they have killed or captured leading al-Qaeda figures, but the precise role any particular individual may have played in the shadowy militant group is often difficult to assess.

It appears the American military is having some success in recruiting Sunni tribes sickened by al-Qaeda's violent excesses to act against the organisation. However they remain against the Shiite-dominated Baghdad administration and the long-term consequences of the strategy are yet to play out.

Washington says its military strategy of sending 30,000 additional troops to Iraq this year and spreading them in neighbourhoods is having success, but US politicians have complained about the failure of their Iraqi counterparts to make progress at the same time.

Violence against civilians continued. A barrage of mortars at dawn killed at least 11 people as residents lined up for fuel at a Baghdad petrol station. Police said overnight they had found 21 corpses dumped throughout the city.

Senior Iraqi political leaders are due to meet in the next few days to try to salvage a governing coalition that was supposed to help end sectarian violence by including members of all Iraq's major groups, but which has failed to enact laws that Washington says are vital to reconciliation.

Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, announced that he was refusing to accept the resignations of six Sunni ministers, whose walkout last week sparked a political crisis.

The largest Sunni group, the Accordance Front, said it would pull deputy prime minister Salam al-Zobaie and five other ministers out of the cabinet.

"We are insisting on our position. For us, the matter does not end with Maliki accepting or rejecting the resignations," Saleem al-Jubouri, a senior member of parliament said.

"We are talking about a programme. The issue is if he accepts or rejects our programme."