Iraqis lay down laws

As violence rages, the new government tries to halt insurgents' attacks.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The Iraqi government announced today a long-anticipated package of security laws to help put down a massive insurgency, including a provision allowing interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to impose martial law.
As the plan was announced, masked gunmen battled Iraqi forces in central Baghdad, while mortars landed near a residence used by Allawi. Iraqi police also defused a massive car bomb elsewhere in the capital.
The laws give Allawi the right to assign curfews, to conduct search operations and detain individuals with weapons on them, once he receives unanimous approval from the Cabinet. It also gives Allawi the right to assign governors, including military leaders, to be in charge of specific areas.
Allawi signed the law earlier in the day, officials said.
Warrants needed
Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan said the premier would need to get warrants from an Iraqi court for each step and said martial law could be declared for only 60 days or for the duration of the specific violence, whichever is shorter.
"We realize this law might restrict some liberties, but there are a number of guarantees," al-Hassan said. "We have tried to guarantee justice and also to guarantee human rights."
Controlling insurgents
The law was needed to combat the insurgents who are "preventing government employees from attending their jobs, preventing foreign workers from entering the country to help rebuild Iraq and in general trying to derail general elections," he said.
Human Rights Minister Bakhityar Amin compared the law to the U.S. Patriot Act.
"The lives of the Iraqi people are in danger, they are in danger from evil forces, from gangs, from terrorists," Amin said.
Running gunbattle
That danger was underscored by the violence today. Insurgents waged a running gunbattle with Iraqi forces in the streets near Martyrs' Square, the Interior Ministry said. At least two people were hurt, witnesses said. U.S. soldiers joined the fighting against the insurgents, a witness said.
A senior U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the law will not detract from the efforts of coalition forces here.
"We'll still be able to go out and do our mission," the official said. "There may be a requirement or need for increase of coordination with specific rules and specific measures that are going to be put in place by the Iraqi government."
Four mortar rounds shook a neighborhood near the headquarters of Allawi's Iraq National Accord party, wounding six people, an Interior Ministry official said. The attacks in central Baghdad hit a building belonging to a foundation working to combat chest diseases.
The assault marked the second time Allawi's party, the Iraqi National Accord, was targeted. In the days before U.S. officials handed over power to Allawi's interim government June 28, insurgents overran the offices of the Iraq National Accord in Baqouba, an insurgent hotspot north of the capital, Baghdad. No one was hurt in that assault.
Iraqi police also defused a car loaded with 1,650 pounds of explosives this morning near the Al-Iman Mosque in the Karada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, according to police Col. Adnan Hussein.
Later, another explosion shook the terminal building at Baghdad International Airport. There was no immediate word on damages or casualties.
Amnesty potential
On Saturday, Allawi's spokesman, Georges Sada, suggested that guerrillas who fought the Americans before the sovereignty transfer could be eligible for amnesty because their actions were legitimate acts of resistance.
However, the deputy prime minister for national security, Barham Saleh, said the Cabinet was discussing an amnesty offer and was deliberating how to give "people an opportunity to reintegrate within society" while at the same time "remaining firm against people who have committed atrocities and have committed crimes against the people of Iraq and against the coalition forces that have come to help us overcome tyranny."
Al-Zarqawi's group
Also today, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for an attack on U.S. forces in western Baghdad earlier this week, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.
The military wing of al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group claimed 100 of its fighters attacked U.S. forces Monday in al-Saqlawiya, 43 miles west of the Iraqi capital.
The statement did not specify how many American soldiers were injured or killed.
The U.S. military announced Tuesday that three Marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed while on duty in western Iraq. Two died in action Monday in the Anbar province, and a third died of his wounds later Monday.
Four more U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday in the Anbar province while conducting security and stability operations, the U.S. military said today.
The United States is offering $25 million for information leading to al-Zarqawi's capture. He is believed to be behind a series of coordinated attacks on police and security forces that killed 100 people only days before U.S. forces handed over power to an Iraqi interim government.