Two Jets Missing

[David]

AP


The U.S. military has lost contact with two jets flying in support of coalition operations in Iraq, military officials said.

The status of the two U.S. Marine F/A-18 Hornet aircraft and their crew was not immediately known, the military said in a statement. Contact was lost at 10:10 p.m. Monday, a statement said. There were no initial indications of hostile fire in the area at the time.

Search efforts for the jets are underway.

Meanwhile, Baghdad is dotted by a violent rash of bombings as Iraq's incoming prime minister struggled Monday to find a Sunni Arab to run the key Defense Ministry in time to join Iraq's first democratically elected government when it takes office the following day. A torrent of bloodshed ? at least 140 killed in five days ? followed the approval of a Cabinet that mostly shut out members of the disaffected Sunni minority.

At least 23 Iraqis were killed Monday, including eight soldiers cut down by a suicide attacker who detonated a truck packed with explosives at a checkpoint south of the capital, and six civilians caught in a car bombing that set fire to a Baghdad apartment building. A British soldier was also killed by a roadside bomb in the southern city of Amarah.

This week's government formation will mark the first time in nearly four centuries that Iraq's Shiite-majority will take charge.

Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari had promised to form a government that would win over Sunni moderates and reduce Sunni support for the insurgency. On Monday, al-Jaafari aide Laith Kuba said the incoming premier had filled six of the seven Cabinet seats left undecided last week, but disputes remained over the key defense ministry portfolio, which is destined for a Sunni.

In other developments:


Army Private Lynndie England pleaded guilty Monday for her involvement in the Iraq prisoner-abuse scandal. The 22-year-old Army reservist appeared in notorious photos that showed American soldiers humiliating and taunting detainees in Iraq. One of the pictures showed her holding a naked Iraqi on a leash. England's lawyers are hoping a plea deal will be accepted by an Army judge at Fort Hood, Texas.


Coalition forces have hit back in recent weeks, detaining suspected militants and confiscating hidden arms caches. U.S. and Iraqi forces have detained 84 suspects in the Baghdad area since Sunday, the U.S. military said. An additional 52 suspects were detained Monday in a joint operation in the Diyarah area, south of the capital, the military said.


A suicide bomber exploded a truck at an Iraqi checkpoint near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, killing eight soldiers and wounding 20, said Iraqi army Capt. Qassem Sharif.


Two car bombs in Baghdad killed at least nine more Iraqis on Monday. One exploded in an upscale shopping district in southern Baghdad and set fire to a six-story apartment building. Six civilians were killed and seven wounded in the explosion, which missed a police patrol, said police Lt. Col. Salman Abdul Karim al-Fartosi. As firefighters fought the blaze, thick black smoke and flames rose from the ground floor.


In eastern Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near a passport office, killing three Iraqis, including two policemen, and wounding six, three of them also policemen, said police Lt. Col. Hassan Chalob. An American military patrol and a top Iraqi security official narrowly escaped two other bombings, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.


Italy is challenging a U.S. report that cleared American soldiers of wrongdoing in the shooting of an Italian agent in Baghdad, a case that has sorely tested one of Washington's staunchest allies in Iraq. The Italian investigation of the death of Nicola Calipari found that there were coordination problems among officials in Iraq and problems with rules of engagement for checkpoints, Italy's foreign ministry said on its Web site ahead of the report's release Monday.


Romanian President Traian Basescu said he is certain that three Romanian journalists kidnapped in Baghdad on March 28 are alive, even though their captors threatened last week to kill them if his country failed to withdraw its 800 troops from Iraq.


British officials announced a fourth arrest in the abduction of British CARE International worker Margaret Hassan, believed slain by her captors last year. The four Iraqis were arrested Sunday during a coalition raid south of Baghdad that turned up evidence that included women's clothing and CARE documents signed by Hassan.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a statement strongly condemning the "cruel and heartless" violence apparently aimed at undermining Iraq's newly formed government.

The skyrocketing attacks are blamed on an insurgency believed largely made up of members of Iraq's Sunni minority, who dominated for decades under Saddam Hussein but were excluded from meaningful positions in a partial new Cabinet announced Thursday.

Al-Jaafari's initial choice for defense minister was rejected by members of his Shiite-dominated alliance because of suspected ties to Saddam's Baath Party, which brutally repressed the majority Shiites and Kurds. Since then, rival Sunni factions have submitted a number of candidates for the job. Three Sunni lawmakers quit al-Jaafari's alliance, complaining he should look within his own coalition first to fill Cabinet posts.

Al-Jaafari wants to have all positions finalized before the new government is sworn in Tuesday, Kuba said. He declined to identify those already selected before they are presented to the interim National Assembly for approval.

On Jan. 30, millions of Iraqis risked their lives to elect the Shiite-dominated assembly, but many Sunnis boycotted the vote or stayed home for fear of attacks at the polls. After months of wrangling, al-Jaafari has drawn up a Cabinet that so far includes 15 Shiite Arab ministers, seven Kurds, four Sunnis and one Christian. Two of four deputy premiers have also been named, a Shiite and a Kurd.

But even with Sunnis in Cabinet, Iraqi insurgents have made clear there will be no letup in the unrelenting violence of recent weeks. The country's most feared terror group, al Qaeda in Iraq, has posted statements on the Internet saying any Iraqi government is a puppet of the U.S.-led coalition, and it will attack any Sunnis who join it.

On Sunday, Iraqi militants released a video purporting to show Iraq's latest foreign hostage: an Australian who said he is married to an American and lives in California.

The videotape obtained by Associated Press Television News showed a man identifying himself as Douglas Wood, 63, seated between two masked militants pointing automatic weapons at him.

Wood, appearing disheveled and shaken, said he was an Australian national living in the San Francisco area with his American wife. He said he came to Iraq almost a year ago to work on reconstruction projects with the American military. Wood's American wife, Pearl, said she had seen the tape and the man was indeed her husband.

The captive appealed to President Bush, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Californian Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to order coalition forces out of Iraq and let Iraqis look after themselves, saying he did not want to die.

"My captors are fiercely patriotic. They believe in a strong united Iraq looking after its own destiny," Wood said on the tape.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he is setting up a special task force to try to win Wood's release.

Howard didn't say what action he may take, but did say Australia won't negotiate with terrorists.

A militant group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The group previously said it abducted a Turkish national who was freed in September.