Shiite politician seeks God's help to counter insurgency

Six insurgents were killed by U.S. troops in a firefight in Baghdad.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A leading Shiite politician marked Islam's feast of sacrifice Wednesday by asking for God's help to smite the insurgency, and warned his governing religious bloc would not allow substantive changes to Iraq's new constitution -- a key Sunni Arab demand.
U.S. Army soldiers killed six insurgents in a firefight in Baghdad, including two wearing suicide belts. They arrested one man and confiscated a weapons cache that the Army said included 400 pounds of homemade explosives and components to make 15 pressure-activated bombs.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment came under fire, said Spc. George Welcome, of the 101st Airborne Division.
"Following the firefight, the soldiers discovered two dead insurgents wearing suicide vests strapped with explosives," Welcome said in a statement.
Asking for help
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, marked the Eid al-Adha holiday by calling for God's help in fighting the insurgency.
"We ask God's blessing to send a strong stroke against the terrorists," he said, adding that combatting the insurgency would be the top priority of the new government formed after Dec. 15 elections. Sunni Arabs make up the core of the insurgency.
The cleric also heads the governing United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite religious bloc with a strong lead in the elections, according to preliminary results. But the 130 seats of parliament's 275 seats it is expected to receive will not be enough to avoid forming a coalition government with smaller parties.
Al-Hakim said any amendments to Iraq's new constitution would have to leave provincial governments strong, adding that Shiites would reject efforts to weaken the federalism embodied by the charter, approved in an October referendum.
Key demand
A key Sunni demand is weaker federalism and a stronger central government. The constitution now gives most power -- including control over oil profits -- to provincial governments. The Shiites in the south and the Kurds in the north control nearly all of Iraq's oil.
To win their support, Sunni Arabs were promised they could propose amendments to the constitution in the first four months of the new parliament.There was limited violence Wednesday.
Gunmen killed four people, including a former senior member of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party, near Mosul. Jemal Kheder A'bdal was shot near his home, police said. A roadside bomb killed two policemen outside Samarra.
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