UN Security Council Extends Mandate of Multinational Force in Iraq
28 November 2006
The U.N. Security Council has voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq through the end of next year.
The Council responded Tuesday to a recent request for an extension from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The U.S. envoy to the United Nations, John Bolton, said the vote shows the resolve to continue to cooperate with Iraq's government. He said it is fitting the Security Council acted before Mr. Maliki and President Bush meet this week in Jordan.
In violence Tuesday in Iraq, more than 10 people were killed and several dozen bodies were discovered, most in Baghdad.
The U.S. military says coalition forces in Iraq killed five girls during a clash with insurgents in Ramadi.
The military says coalition forces fired tank rounds at a home insurgents were using for cover during a gunbattle. Troops then searched the house, finding the body of one man and five girls, ranging in age from infant to teenager.
The U.S. military called the deaths a tragic reminder that insurgent activity affects all Iraqis.
In other news, an American forensic expert testified at Saddam Hussein's genocide trial, showing pictures of bones and skulls of Iraqi Kurds shot during Operation Anfal in 1988.
The expert, Clyde Snow said his team exhumed the bodies of 27 people killed by firing squad from a mass grave in the village of Koreme. He said experts believe what they saw at Koreme was typical of what happened at scores of Kurdish villages during Operation Anfal, which the prosecution says killed 180.000 people.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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