New mass kidnap in Iraq as PM pushes peace plan

IRAQ: Uniformed gunmen kidnapped people from computer stores in Baghdad as the prime minister, racing to avert civil war, presented a plan to halt sectarian violence by forming local committees and controlling the media.

The Central Committee for Peace and Security would manage relations among new local committees in the capital comprising rival political factions and local leaders, Nuri al-Maliki said. A further key point would be new supervision of the media.

A day after gunmen forced 26 workers into a chilled meat van and drove them away from a food processing plant in the capital, police said seven government-style four-wheel drive vehicles carrying men in camouflage converged on a row of computer sales and repair shops close to Baghdad's Technology University.

They rounded up 14 people and swiftly drove off again, fuelling sectarian friction over accusations that Shi'ite militias inside the police are targeting the Sunni minority.

Maliki met fellow Shi'ite political leaders along with top Sunnis and Kurds on Monday evening before announcing live on television what he described as a four-point plan to rein in militias and give the state a monopoly on weaponry.

The four points of the programme appeared vague, however: local committees involving different factions, Iraqi military commanders and tribal leaders would be formed in neighbourhoods; secondly a central committee would coordinate among these and the armed forces command; controls would be place on the media; and fourthly the plan would be reviewed monthly.

Though the identities of the kidnappers and victims were unclear, the incidents heightened sectarian friction, which the U.S. ambassador said on Sunday could lead to all-out civil war unless the government acts to curb militias within two months.

"The vehicles had no licence plates," a witness who gave his name as Nazar told Reuters. "The gunmen went into the al-Sira, Arazi and Raad shops and took lots of people away."

Several Sunni lawmakers contested the monthly renewal of the Maliki government's emergency powers in parliament on Monday.

Khalaf al-Ulayan accused the Sunni speaker of railroading through the 30-day extension on a show of hands and said it did not have the necessary majority: "We are not against the extension," he said. "But it is not being applied evenly."

Baghdad, Tuesday, Reuters