Iraq's largest Sunni Arab group demands militias be disbanded after 65 bodies found

The Associated Press

The leader of Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab group demanded that the Shiite-led government take steps to disarm militias after the bodies of 65 tortured men were dumped in and around Baghdad. In a violent day even by the standards of Baghdad, car bombs, mortars and other attacks also killed at least 39 people and wounded dozens on Wednesday. Two U.S. soldiers were also killed, one Monday from enemy action in restive Anbar province and the other Tuesday by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the U.S. military command (...) Sunni Arabs fear more sectarian violence will break out if the largest Shiite political bloc in parliament succeeds is passing legislation that will set in place the mechanism for establishing autonomous regions as part of a federal Iraq (...) Although federalism is part Iraq's new constitution, and there is already an autonomous Kurdish region in the north, special legislation and a referendum would be needed to turn Iraq into a full federation. Alliance leaders were sending delegations to the Shiite holy city of Najaf to meet radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and other leaders who do not fully support the legislation — but for different reasons than the Sunnis. Al-Sadr, for examples, wants it to be discussed after U.S. troops leave Iraq...

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