Region

BAGHDAD — Iraqi politicians named a moderate Sunni Islamist as speaker of parliament on Tuesday, a long-delayed first step towards a power-sharing government urgently needed to save the state from disintegration in the face of a Sunni uprising.

A Shiite leader suggested the naming of Salim Al Jabouri as speaker was part of a broader political deal, but gave no clue as to whether that meant Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki had managed to secure backing for a third term.

The vote came as Iraq’s army and allied Shiite militia launched an assault to retake former dictator Saddam Hussein’s home city Tikrit from Al Qaeda offshoot known as the Islamic State and allied militants, who seized it in mid-June during a lightning assault through the north.

The stunning advance by the militants over the past month has put Iraq’s very survival in jeopardy even as its politicians have been deadlocked over forming a new government since an election in April.

Maliki, whose State of Law coalition won the most seats but would need allies to form a government, has ruled since the election as a caretaker, defying demands from Sunnis and Kurds that he step aside for a less-polarising figure.

Washington has made clear that setting up a more inclusive government in Baghdad is a requirement for its military support against the insurgency.

Under Iraq’s governing system put in place after the US invasion in 2003, the prime minister has always been a member of the Shiite majority, the speaker a Sunni and the largely ceremonial president a Kurd, with the three posts hammered out in prolonged negotiations following every election.

Picking the Sunni speaker is parliament’s first task, but Sunni leaders had previously refused to nominate one until a deal was reached on a prime minister.

Ibrahim Jaafari, Maliki’s predecessor and now head of his Shiite National Alliance, hinted that a wider deal had been reached, saying the Shiite alliance was voting for Jabouri and expected support from Sunni politicians in return.

“It is the nature of any deal that any commitment should be mutual. It doesn’t make sense that we support them and they don’t support us,” Jaafari said. However, he did not specify whether the National Alliance would now nominate Maliki for prime minister or choose another candidate.

During two breaks in the session, Sunni and Kurdish politicians were not immediately available to comment.

Sharp sword

Iraq’s army and allied Shiite militia have managed to halt the advance of Sunni fighters north of Baghdad but have struggled to recapture territory, launching several attempts so far to retake Tikrit.

The defence ministry said troops launched their latest assault on the Tigris River city, operation “Sharp Sword”, at dawn on Tuesday, attacking from the south and battling insurgents in the southern districts.

An officer taking part in Tuesday’s assault said uniformed volunteer fighters and militia forces, including the Shiite Asa’ib Ahl Al Haq, were fighting alongside the army while following orders from their own militia commanders.

The assault was launched from the village of Saddam’s birth, Awja, some 8km south of the city which the army retook on the night of July 3.

Tuesday’s initial fighting focused around the Shishin district of south Tikrit, the officer and another soldier said, adding that the army was also heading towards Saddam’s former presidential palace compounds, where Islamic State fighters had held captives and run their Islamic court trials. Soldiers were also fighting to take Tikrit hospital on strategic high ground.

Across the Tigris River to the east, the army landed paratroopers in Albu Ajeel, a village where Iraqiya state television said some insurgents had fled. One army officer in the fighting said they were surprised the resistance they experienced was less fierce than expected.

The Sunni insurgency is led by the Islamic State, which shortened its name from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after last month’s advance into Iraq and declared its leader “caliph” — ruler of all Muslims.

It now controls a swathe of territory from Aleppo in Syria close to the Mediterranean to the outskirts of Baghdad.

In Iraq last month it initially won the support of other armed Sunni groups, including tribal fighters and Saddam loyalists, but there have been signs that those groups are turning against Al Qaeda offshoot in recent days.

Residents of a town north of Baghdad found 12 corpses with execution-style bullet wounds on Monday following fighting overnight between Islamic State fighters and the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by Saddam loyalists.

Washington hopes a more inclusive government in Baghdad could save Iraq by persuading moderate Sunnis to turn against the insurgency, as many did during the “surge” offensive in 2006-2007 when US troops paid them to switch sides.

Two suicide bombers detonated explosive-packed cars at a restaurant on the road between Samarra and Tikrit, a witness said. A doctor at Samarra Hospital put the initial death toll from the blast at seven.

In the town of Madain, southeast of Baghdad, two bombs at an army recruitment centre killed nine people, police and medical sources said. In Yousefiya, also south of Baghdad, four soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb on their patrol.

VIENNA — Iran must reduce its capacity to make nuclear fuel if it wants to secure a long-term agreement with six world powers and end sanctions, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday.

For its part, Tehran suggested that an extension of talks beyond a July 20 deadline was likely.

Iran and the six nations are trying to bridge differences in negotiating positions over a deal intended to end a decade-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The West fears the programme may be aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability but Iran says it is for peaceful purposes.

“We have made it crystal clear that the 19,000 [nuclear centrifuges] that are currently part of their programme is too many,” Kerry told reporters after three days of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

In a New York Times interview, Zarif floated the idea of Tehran keeping its enrichment programme at current levels for a few years before expanding it. Diplomats said the Iranian delegation had raised this issue with the six in recent weeks.

The proposal was consistent with a speech by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which diplomats said had limited the Iranian delegation’s ability to make concessions and could make it difficult for Tehran to reach a deal.

Kerry said the talks — involving the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China as well as Iran — had made tangible progress on key issues but gaps remained.

“It is clear we still have more work to do and our team will continue to work very hard to try to reach a comprehensive agreement that resolves the international community’s concern,” Kerry said.

“There are more issues to work through and more provisions to nail down to ensure that Iran’s programme can always remain exclusively peaceful.”

Zarif echoed Kerry’s remarks, saying that although he had had good talks with the US diplomat, serious differences remained between the two sides.

He suggested prolonging the talks past July 20 was likely since “I see an inclination on the part of our negotiating partners that they believe more time may be useful and necessary”.

No decision on an extension has been taken yet.

But another Iranian official told Reuters on condition of anonymity: “I believe an extension is very likely on Sunday.” Other Western diplomats echoed his remarks.

Kerry to consult with Obama, Congress

Kerry said he had held several extensive conversations with Zarif since arriving on Sunday. They had a final short meeting at the Palais Coburg before Kerry returned to Washington.

Kerry will consult with President Barack Obama and Congress leaders about the prospects for a comprehensive agreement and the path forward if the July deadline is not met.

One option is to extend the talks for up to six months, which is theoretically possible according to an interim agreement Iran and the powers signed in November. The interim deal gave Iran limited sanctions relief in exchange for curbing some atomic work.

Zarif said he believed that “we have made enough headway to be able to tell our political bosses back home that this is a process worth continuing”.

It was not immediately clear if the progress Kerry spoke of on Tuesday was enough to justify an extension.

A history of hiding sensitive nuclear work from UN inspectors has kept international suspicions about Iran’s nuclear programme high and heightened the risk of a new Middle East war should diplomacy fail to yield a long-term settlement.

Israel has threatened military action against Iran if it is not satisfied with the results of the talks.

In the New York Times interview, Zarif said any limits on Iran’s nuclear programme should be lifted after three to seven years. But US officials have said Washington would want verifiable limits to remain in place for more than a decade.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel resumed a punishing air campaign against Gaza Tuesday after its Islamist foe Hamas rejected a six-hour truce and fired dozens of rockets over the border, killing a first Israeli.

The renewed strikes killed two Gazans, raising the Palestinian death toll in eight days of violence to 194, medics said.

The Israeli was killed in a rocket attack on an Israeli position near the Erez crossing with Gaza, the army said.

The 38-year-old civilian had been delivering food to soldiers serving in the area, a spokesman for the Israeli emergency services told AFP.

It was the first Israeli death of the conflict after nearly 1,000 rockets had been fired into Israel. Four Israelis have been seriously wounded.

In an early-morning vote, Israel’s Security Cabinet said it would accept an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire to begin at 0600 GMT.

But Hamas officials said they had not been consulted on the proposal and would not halt fire without a full-fledged deal including Israeli concessions.

The movement’s armed wing continued to fire dozens of rockets into Israel after the 0600 GMT deadline, sending tens of thousands scrambling for cover.

The army said two rockets were intercepted over Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening.

Overnight, Hamas’ Ezzeddine Al Qassam Brigades armed wing rejected the Egyptian proposal for a truce to be followed by talks.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the movement had not been consulted on the truce bid.

“We didn’t get to see the Egyptian proposal except through the media,” he said.

“The idea of halting fire before there is any agreement on the conditions laid out by the resistance is unacceptable and we reject it.”

A top member of Hamas’ exiled politburo, Musa Abu Marzouq, sounded a more cautious note, saying the movement had no official position on the proposal and discussions were continuing.

Hamas has said it wants the end of Israel’s blockade of Gaza and the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt as part of a truce deal.

It also wants Israel to free Palestinians it rearrested after releasing them in a 2011 exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza fighters for more than five years.

Israel to ‘broaden’ offensive 

Speaking on Tuesday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that the Jewish state would not hesitate to resume its punishing campaign in and around Gaza.

“We responded positively to the Egyptian proposal to give a chance to deal with the demilitarisation of Gaza,” Netanyahu said, referring to Hamas’ arsenal of missiles and rockets.

“But if Hamas doesn’t accept the ceasefire proposal — and that’s how it seems at this point in time — Israel will have all the international legitimacy to broaden its military activity in order to achieve the necessary quiet.”

At 1200 GMT, the Israeli army announced it was resuming air strikes, after fighters fired 47 rockets from Gaza.

The fresh raids hit Gaza City, southern Khan Younis and Rafah and killed two people, one in Khan Younis and one in Gaza City, raising the toll in eight days of violence to 194.

Cairo’s truce proposal was announced overnight, and urged both sides to halt the violence and travel to Egypt for talks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was due in Cairo on Wednesday, but it was unclear if Hamas officials there were continuing to discuss the truce bid and if Israeli officials would also travel to Egypt.

The proposal won support from Western governments.

“We are encouraged that Egypt has made a proposal to accomplish this goal that we hope can restore the calm that we are seeking,” said US President Barack Obama.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also urged Hamas to accept the Egyptian proposal, accusing the Islamists of holding Gaza “hostage”.

But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan put the blame entirely on Israel accusing it of carrying out “state terrorism” and a “massacre” of Palestinians in Gaza.

Strikes resume across Gaza

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge before dawn on July 8, hitting Gaza with an intensive air and artillery bombardment aimed at stamping out rocket fire.

Since then, 922 rockets have hit Israel, while another 207 have been intercepted by its Iron Dome air defence system, the army said.

In Gaza City on Tuesday, shortly after Israel resumed its air strikes, 44-year-old Suheil Al Hossari looked at the ruins of his home.

The door and doorframe of the three-storey building were the only parts of it left standing, surrounded by rubble and belongings, including a stack of blankets.

Hossari’s neighbour received a call from the Israeli army before the strike, warning him to evacuate the building and its surroundings.

The warning meant no one was hurt or killed in the strike, a small comfort for Hossari.

“Everything is destroyed. The food we prepared for our iftar [Ramadan evening meal] is now under the ruins of my home,” he told AFP.

“I don’t have money for food, let alone to rent a new house. I will stay here in the open and rely on God’s mercy.”

ALEPPO, Syria — In Syria’s second city Aleppo, craters blasted by regime air raids on opposition-held areas have been transformed into improvised swimming pools for children to cool off in raging summer temperatures.

Although the water is filthy, the war-weary children of the country’s one-time commercial capital find in these pools a rare opportunity to both have fun and seek relief from the oppressive heat.

In the battered district of Shaar, children and teenagers swim carefree in one flooded crater, the rubble of buildings in a totally destroyed street their backdrop, an AFP correspondent said.

Despite the visible presence of water in the street, the battered city suffers from endemic water and electricity shortages after being ravaged by two years of war.

Young residents have precious few opportunities to relax.

“In the past, we used to swim in pools downtown. Now [President Bashar] Assad bombards us with explosive barrels and their craters become pools. It’s very hot and we cannot sleep during the day or at night,” said 12-year-old Aleppo resident Abdel Qader.

Residents say one huge pool was created when a barrel bomb blasted an underground water main.

The water is not at all clean, but teenager Mustafa says he is very happy to be able to swim in it.

“There is no water for showering. Sometimes we bring water from here,” Mustafa told AFP.

“We are tired and fasting,” he said, referring to not being able to eat in the daylight hours during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

An activist in the opposition-held part of the city, Mohammed Al Khatieb, told AFP: “There is water sometimes, but it is in short supply, and there are frequent cuts.”

Khatieb also blamed shortages in opposition-held areas on regime bombings that damage or destroy key water pumps, as well as electricity shortages which make pumping water impossible.

There have also been severe water shortages in the regime-held parts of Aleppo, however.

Last week, a priest of the Freres Maristes congregation published an open letter appealing for help for war-ravaged Aleppo, where he said “the situation has become untenable”.

In his letter, published online, Georges Sabe said: “Since 2 June 2014, an entire city has been deprived of water... The city and its inhabitants, over two million persons, are deprived... deprived of water.”

Since a major rebel onslaught in July 2012, Aleppo has been divided into rebel-controlled and regime-held areas.

For seven months now, as the army has pressed a bid to reclaim opposition-held areas, regime warplanes have launched daily air raids, with more than 2,000 civilians killed and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes.

The rebels respond to the massive fire power of loyalist forces with frequent mortar attacks targeting army-held areas.

Backed by Lebanon’s Shiite Hizbollah, loyalist forces are trying to surround Aleppo and sever rebel supply lines.

Rights groups have denounced regime air raids which they say do not discriminate between civilian and rebel targets.

BEIRUT — President Bashar Assad begins a new seven-year term Wednesday looking to play up a string of battlefield victories while trying to win over war-weary Syrians and those fearful of jihadists.

His swearing-in after a controversial June election — held in government-controlled areas only in the midst of a raging civil war — comes with Western policy in disarray after Sunni militants captured a vast swathe of neighbouring Iraq, as well as a big chunk of eastern Syria.

The jihadist Islamic State group’s declaration of a “caliphate” was a propaganda gift for Assad, who has regularly portrayed himself as a secular leader and protector of Syria’s minorities.

The president will now try to capitalise on mounting war-weariness after more than three years of deadly conflict to sap support for the non-jihadists among his rebel opponents.

“Assad wants to consolidate his image as the victor,” said Khattar Abou Diab, Paris-Sud University professor of international relations.

The inauguration “will be a show of defiance against countries that demanded his ouster” ever since the eruption of the uprising in March 2011, Abou Diab told AFP.

An analyst close to the Damascus regime, Bassam Abu Abdallah, said that, three years on, Assad’s ouster is “no longer on the cards”.

Abu Abdallah, who directs the Damascus Centre for Strategic Studies, told AFP: “Even the Americans, the Saudis and the Qataris [who back the revolt] are no longer calling for that.”

Samir Nashar of the exiled opposition National Coalition said: “Bashar Assad continues to claim he is a legitimate president despite the victims and the massacres... He is holding on to a semblance of legitimacy.

“His message is clear: He will not leave power at any price.”

In the past year, the rebels have suffered a string of battlefield setbacks.

They were forced to withdraw from third city Homs after a withering two-year siege by Assad’s army and have suffered reverses around both the capital and second city Aleppo.

In the opposition stronghold along the Euphrates Valley in the east, rebel groups palatable to the West have lost control to the Islamic State.

‘Pyrrhic victory’

Brookings Doha Centre Director Salman Shaikh said Assad “has the momentum now”.

After the inauguration, the president is likely to try to present himself as a legitimate leader to any Syrians who have remained neutral throughout the conflict, said Shaikh.

Assad will seek to “cosmetically... reach out... in order to win over those in the grey area”.

But “the regime is still a war Cabinet... and the rebels will continue to fight”.

Karim Bitar, director of the Paris-based International and Strategic Relations Institute, said Assad will capitalise on fears of the jihadists while pressing his fightback against the rebels.

“He hopes the IS abuses will help him win over a population exhausted by three years of war,” Bitar told AFP.

Assad will “continue to take advantage of the West’s obsession with Islamism and try to portray himself as a partner in the fight against IS.”

At the same time, he will “press his counter-insurgency plan, which aims to take over major highways and big cities, while abandoning... the east of the country.”

But analysts say Assad faces an uphill task on the political front.

“Too much blood has been spilled... Regardless of the military successes, [Assad] will never be able to restore his legitimacy in the eyes of much of the population,” said Bitar.

“So what we’re really talking about is a Pyrrhic victory, won on the ruins of a country that will not accept the return of the status quo ante.”

BEIRUT –– Israeli warplanes struck three administrative and military targets in Syria's Golan at dawn on Tuesday, killing two security guards and two women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Israeli planes flying over the occupied Golan Heights launched rockets into southern Syria's Quneitra province at around 1:15 am (2215 GMT). Rockets hit Base 90–– a Syrian military airbase –– and regime bastion Baath City. Four people were killed," the watchdog said.

UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council on Monday authorised humanitarian access without Syrian government consent at four border crossings into rebel-held areas from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, although Syria has warned it deems such deliveries an attack.

The unanimously adopted resolution establishes for 180 days a monitoring mechanism for the loading of aid convoys in neighbouring countries, which will notify Syrian authorities of the “humanitarian nature of these relief consignments”.

The United Nations says about 10.8 million people in Syria need help, of which 4.7 million are in hard-to-reach areas, while another three million have fled the conflict. The more than three-year civil war has killed at least 150,000 people.

Syria’s government warned the Security Council last month that delivering aid across its borders into opposition-held areas without its consent would amount to an attack.

The Secrity Council’s action on Monday is a follow-up to a resolution adopted by the council in February that demanded rapid, safe and unhindered aid access in Syria. The United Nations said that resolution failed to make a difference.

The new resolution allows aid deliveries across Al Yarubiyah on the Iraq border, Tal Shihab on the border with Jordan and Bab Al Salam and Bab Al Hawa from Turkey. Both the Turkish crossings have fallen into the hands of militant Islamist fighters who have taken swaths of Syria and Iraq in the past month.

“The consent of the Syrian authorities will no longer be necessary,” Luxembourg’s UN Ambassador Sylvie Lucas told the council after the vote.

Syrian ally Russia, backed by China, agreed to support the resolution after more than a month of negotiations on the text drafted by Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan. A key to winning their votes was a weakening of a threat of further measures, such as economic sanctions, if warring parties did not comply.

The language was watered down to say the council “affirms” rather than “decides” that it will “take further measures in the event of non-compliance”. The 15-member Security Council would need to agree a second resolution to impose any punishments.

Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted the resolution was not as ambitious as the initial text, which demanded blanket cross-border access. However, they said the four crossings could allow delivery of humanitarian aid to nearly two million people.

They had also wanted a Chapter 7 resolution, which covers the council’s authority to enforce decisions with economic sanctions or military force, but Russia made clear it would block any such resolution.

Russia and China have previously vetoed four resolutions threatening any action against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s government.

The United Nations said in April it would need a Chapter 7 resolution to be able to deliver aid across borders without the Syrian government’s consent.

But the UN Office of Legal Affairs believes the resolution adopted on Monday is strong enough to allow the United Nations cross-border aid access without the approval of Damascus, said diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.

TRIPOLI — The United Nations announced Monday that it was evacuating its remaining staff from Libya, after deadly clashes closed Tripoli airport and severed air links with the outside world.

The fighting between liberal and Islamist militias came after a June general election mired by fraud allegations intensified a struggle for power between rival armed groups that has wracked the North African oil producer ever since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Qadhafi.

“UNSMIL [United Nations Support Mission in Libya] temporarily withdrawing staff from Libya because of security situation,” the mission, which already pulled out dozens of personnel last week, said in a statement.

“After the latest fighting on Sunday and because of the closure of Tripoli international airport, the mission concluded that it would not be possible to continue its work... while at the same time ensuring the security and safety of its staff,” it said.

“This is a temporary measure. Staff will return as soon as security conditions permit. The United Nations, which stood by the Libyan people in their revolution in 2011, will not abandon them as they seek to build a democratic state.”

Witnesses said a UN convoy left Tripoli on Sunday by road headed for the Tunisian border, 170 kilometres to the west.

Tripoli International Airport was shut down for at least three days after the Zintan militia which controls it came under attack by Islamist fighters on Sunday.

At least six people were killed in heavy exchanges of fire, a health ministry official said, and several Airbus planes were damaged on the tarmac.

‘Practically cut off’ 

On Monday, Libya also suspended all flights to and from third city Misrata, west of the capital, which is dependent on Tripoli airport for its operations.

“Libya is now practically cut off from the outside world,” a source at Tripoli airport said.

At least 10 aircraft of Libyan carriers Afriqiyah Airways and Libyan Airlines were damaged in the fighting, a security official said.

“Most them will need maintenance before they can fly again,” said Al Jilani Al Dahesh.

An AFP photographer sighted several passenger aircraft on the tarmac riddled with bullets.

On Monday, the situation was calm in the capital, although Islamist militias have vowed to expel their liberal rivals based in Zintan, a hill town southwest of Tripoli.

Sunday’s Tripoli airport attack was claimed by Islamist militias determined to oust the Zintan group from key sites it controls in south of the capital, including the airport.

The attack was beaten off, but there were also clashes at other Zintan-controlled sites for several hours, especially on the road to the airport.

Libya has been awash with weapons since the NATO-backed uprising three years ago that toppled and killed Qadhafi.

The North African nation is plagued by lawlessness and rival Cabinets are jostling for power.

Mounting violence already prompted UNSMIL to scale down its staffing on Thursday.

Successive interim governments in Tripoli have struggled to establish a strong army and police force, giving former rebel groups a free hand to act.

The well-armed and disciplined Zintan militia is officially under the jurisdiction of the defence ministry.

But it has sided with well-armed forces loyal to renegade former general Khalifa Haftar who launched an offensive against Islamist militias in second city Benghazi in mid-May.

Neighbours call for dialogue 

Libya’s neighbours — Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia — issued a call for dialogue.

They agreed at talks near Tunis to set up twin commissions to broker talks and attempt to prevent any spillover of violence.

Delegates underlined the need to “resolve [the problem of] pockets of terrorism in Libya, which are a source of concern for Libya and the countries in the immediate vicinity”.

Eastern Libya, particularly its main city Benghazi and the hill town of Derna, have become strongholds of jihadist groups, made notorious by a 2012 attack on the US consulate that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.

In a stark indication of the worsening violence, Libyan Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdelaziz, who had been due to join the talks, was unable to get to Tunisia because of the closure of Tripoli airport.

BAGHDAD — Residents of a town north of Baghdad found 12 corpses with execution-style bullet wounds on Monday, after fighting between rival Sunni insurgent groups that could eventually unravel the coalition that seized much of the north and west of the country.

The incident points to an intensification of infighting between the Islamic State and other Sunni groups, such as supporters of former leader Saddam Hussein, which rallied behind the Al Qaeda offshoot last month because of shared hatred for the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

Police in Muqdadiya, a town 80km northeast of the capital, said residents from the nearby town of Saadiya found the 12 corpses on Monday after intense fighting overnight between Islamic State fighters and the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by Saddam allies.

Since the Islamic State swept through Iraqi cities and proclaimed its leader caliph of all Muslims last month, there have been increasing signs of conflict with other Sunni groups who do not necessarily share Al Qaeda offshoot’s rejection of Iraq’s borders or its severe interpretation of Islam.

Washington, which recruited other Sunni fighters to defeat Al Qaeda during the US surge offensive in 2006-2007, hopes other Sunnis will again turn against the Islamic State and can be lured back into a power-sharing government in Baghdad.

The White House has pressed for an inclusive government in Baghdad, but so far Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has ignored calls from Sunnis and Kurds to step down in favour of a less polarising figure who would allow Sunnis a greater voice.

Saadiya, a mostly Sunni town, was overrun by Islamic State militants on June 10, the same day the city of Mosul fell to the insurgents. It is located in Diyala, a mainly rural province north of Baghdad where lush irrigated fields have long sheltered armed groups that resent the arrival of outsiders.

Residents say the town is a stronghold of Naqshbandi Army fighters who supported the Islamic State when it first swept into the area, but have since clashed with the group.

A doctor in the Baqouba morgue, where the corpses were taken, said the men all bore bullet wounds to their heads and chest, though there was no sign of torture. He said the men had been dead no more than 24 hours.

The people who found the bodies said the men were Naqshbandi fighters in their 20s and 30s, and blamed the Islamic State for the execution-style killings. The Saadiya residents brought the corpses to police in Muqdadiya because the police in their town fled on June 10 when the insurgents swept in.

Local government official Ahmad Al Zarghosi, who also fled, told Reuters that he estimated 90 per cent of the town had fled north. Zarghosi, speaking from the town of Khanaqin, said fighting had been raging for a week between Naqshbandi locals and the Islamic State militants.

Though locals said the Naqshbandi Army enjoys strong support in Saadiya, the Islamist militants are far better equipped. They have been seen with heavy weapons and military vehicles including Humvees in towns they seized last month, equipment apparently taken from the army which received billions of dollars worth of US hardware in recent years.

Infighting between Sunni insurgents could doom their bid to reach Baghdad, as well as prospects for consolidating control under the Islamic State’s black flag in regions they have taken.

Though the Islamic State, then known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), spearheaded last month’s offensive, it relied on support from fellow Sunnis eager to drive out forces loyal to Maliki’s Shiite-led government.

A key ally for ISIL was the Naqshbandi Army, believed to be led by Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam’s former deputy and the only top member of the dictator’s entourage still at large since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled him.

An audio recording of Douri’s voice surfaced on a website loyal to Saddam’s ousted Baath Party on Saturday night with a message heaping praise on Al Qaeda offshoot, although apparently acknowledging divisions among insurgent ranks. The authenticity of the recording cannot be verified.

Iraq’s national army and allied Shiite militias have been fighting the Islamic State for days over a military base next to Muqdadiya and trading control of nearby town of Sadur, which Maliki’s military spokesman said Sunday the army had retaken.

Saddam-era colonel killed

The spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassim Atta, said on Sunday the army had also seized back the nearby village of Nawfal after days of fighting.

In that village, Nasqhbandi fighters and the Islamic State are still fighting together against government forces. Seven Naqshbandi members were killed on Monday during a battle against government forces and Shiite militias, police said.

The dead included Saddam-era army colonel Hussein Al Mehdawi, who was fighting alongside the Islamic State, and six of his relatives.

Elsewhere in Diyala province, police in the provincial capital Baqouba reported 12 kidnappings overnight. Details were not immediately clear. The mostly Sunni city was the site of a mass killing at a jail last month that victims’ families blamed on government forces and allied Shiite militias.

Though the front line has yet to reach Baghdad, frequent bomb attacks are striking the capital. Three separate explosions occurred before nightfall on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding more than 20.

GAZA CITY/CAIRO — Egypt proposed a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and its Islamist foe Hamas to start at 0600 GMT Tuesday and be followed by talks on easing the flow of goods into Gaza.

The proposal late on Monday came on the eve of a scheduled visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry to Egypt, a traditional broker in Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, to push for a halt to seven days of exchanges that have left 184 Gazans dead.

“0600 GMT has been set for the beginning of the implementation of truce arrangements between the two sides,” the text of the proposal said.

There was no immediate reaction from Israel or Hamas, which have both said they are not yet prepared to accept a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Washington warned its Israeli ally Monday against any ground invasion of Gaza. 

The White House stopped short of criticising Israel over the civilian casualty toll from its devastating air and artillery bombardment of the densely populated Palestinian enclave that has drawn flak from the United Nations and human rights watchdogs.

It said the Israeli government had the “right” and “responsibility” to defend its citizens against rocket attacks by its Islamist foe Hamas from its Gaza stronghold.

But it said even more civilians would be put at risk were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to heed hardliners in his governing coalition and send in troops and armour.

With Israel’s punishing air campaign in its seventh day, the death toll in Gaza hit 184, prompting growing calls for a ceasefire which have so far showed little sign of progress.

Ahead of an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, Hamas shot down hopes of a deal to end the violence, saying no serious moves had been made.

“Talk of a ceasefire requires real and serious efforts, which we haven’t seen so far,” Hamas MP Mushir Al Masri told AFP in Gaza City.

“Any ceasefire must be based on the conditions we have outlined. Nothing less than that will be accepted,” he said, in a show of defiance in the face of the withering Israeli bombardment.

Israel has said it is not ready to countenance a ceasefire either, as it seeks to deal ever harsher blows to Hamas and stamp out its capacity to fire rockets deep into Israel.

In a bid to add Washington’s weight to truce efforts, US Secretary of State John Kerry is to fly into Cairo on Tuesday, Egyptian state media reported.

“Kerry will visit Egypt tomorrow, Tuesday, to conduct talks with senior officials,” the official MENA news agency reported.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department, with Israeli press reports suggesting Kerry would also visit Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, headquarters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Rising civilian toll

In Gaza City’s Tel Al Hawa neighbourhood, relatives of a retired economics professor in his 80s looked at the damage to his home, clearly bemused as to why it should have been targeted by an Israeli missile.

This time, the family escaped unharmed, fleeing after an initial warning strike. But the missile itself failed to explode, drawing a crowd of curious onlookers as officials wondered how to remove it.

Human rights groups say more than 75 per cent of the dead have been non-combatants. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says more than a quarter of them have been children.

Although Israel has confirmed preparations for a possible ground attack, it appeared to be holding off with the security Cabinet meeting reportedly deciding against putting boots on the ground — for now.

But the pace of the air strikes slowed noticeably on Monday.

Seven people were killed, far fewer than the 56 killed on Saturday, the bloodiest day by far of a campaign which began before dawn on July 8 with the aim of halting militant rocket fire on southern Israel.

So far, no Israelis have been killed. A handful have been seriously wounded.

The rocket fire has since intensified, with Hamas fighters launching more than 800 rockets at cities across Israel, including occupied Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the northern city of Hadera. A further 187 have been shot down.

“The military steps being taken by both sides in the last 24 hours were a function, among other things, of the developments in the dialogue,” Alex Fishman wrote in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper, saying the state of negotiations should become clear “in the next 24 hours”.

“If no catastrophe takes place, that causes a particularly high number of fatalities on either side, the likelihood is that the fire will abate as early as this week.”

As the human scale of the tragedy grew, a senior military official said the army was using a “pain map”, hitting targets seen as most valuable to the Islamist movement.

So far, Hamas does not appear in any mood for concessions.

Masri said its conditions would include a lifting of Israel’s eight-year blockade on Gaza, the opening of its Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and the release of prisoners Israel rearrested after freeing them in exchange for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

Speaking to AFP in Cairo, another Hamas official said a general framework had been presented, but the leadership wanted more than it gained in a previous truce which ended the last major round of violence with Israel.

“We need to build on the 2012 truce and move forward,” he said.