Iraq's new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to use "maximum force against terrorism" yesterday, as bombs killed at least 19 people in Baghdad during the first meeting of his national unity cabinet.

 

In a fresh reminder of the huge task Maliki faces in reining in bloodshed that has pushed Iraq to the brink of sectarian civil war, a string of blasts hit Baghdad, including one suicide bomber who killed at least 13 people and wounded 18 in a crowded restaurant popular with police.

 

Police said the dead included police and civilians.

 

The tough-talking Shi'ite Muslim, briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, said, however, that his government would hold out the offer of dialogue to insurgents who lay down weapons.

 

He vowed to reimpose the state's monopoly on the armed forces, cracking down on militias.

 

"We will use maximum force against terrorism, but we also need a national initiative," he said in reference to previous calls for "national reconciliation" among all Iraqis.

 

"Weapons should only be allowed in the hands of the government. Militias, death squads, terrorism, killings and assassinations are not normal and we should put an end to the militias."

 

As the cabinet met for the first time since Saturday's swearing-in in parliament, a car bomb killed three people and wounded 15 in Baghdad's western mainly Shi'ite Shula district.

 

Earlier, a roadside bomb on the eastern bank of the Tigris killed three people and wounded 24 in a blast apparently targeting Iraqi police in a busy commercial street.

 

Officials had warned of an increase of attacks before and after Saturday's inauguration.

 

Besides dealing with Iraqis beset by communal violence and poor basic services, Maliki's strongman approach to Iraq's many woes has raised hopes in Washington that an improvement in security could pave the way for a withdrawal of US troops.

 

Reading out a government program to parliament as US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad looked on, Maliki said he will work to complete rebuilding Iraq's US-trained armed forces so that foreign troops could leave within an "objective timetable."

 

Maliki has cobbled together a cabinet of Shi'ites, minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds in the hope that a broad-based coalition will ease sectarian violence.

 

But disputes over who would lead the key interior and defense ministries in charge of police and the army meant those two sensitive posts would be left vacant for now. Maliki said he hoped to fill the posts in two to three days.

 

Khalilzad, a key power broker behind the scenes, said the formation of the government, with crucial involvement from Saddam Hussein's once dominant fellow Sunnis, brought 130,000 American troops suffering almost daily casualties closer to going home.

 

"I believe that, with the political changes taking place the emphasis on unity and reconciliation, with effective ministers that conditions are likely to move in the right direction and that would allow adjustment in term of the size, composition and mission of our forces," he said.

 

"We are going to be moving in the direction of downsizing our forces. But that is always dependent on the conditions."

 

Despite Maliki's efforts to forge consensus among Iraq's rival communities, partisan wrangling over jobs and differences over the role of Islam, the sharing of Iraq's natural resources and the future layout of the Iraqi state highlight the problems he will face in holding his colleagues to a common policy.

 

(China Daily May 22, 2006)