Clinton on surprise visit to Iraq after wave of attacks

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday arrived in Baghdad on a surprise visit which came as a wave of violence engulfed the country just weeks before US troops leave Iraqi cities.

Clinton landed in the Iraqi capital around 8.30 am (0530 GMT), a day after two suicide attackers killed 55 Shiite pilgrims at a shrine in the city, and less than 48 hours after a similar attack killed dozens in a northern town.

Clinton said she would be analysing the security situation amid a spike in bombings that have killed more than 250 people this month, and as US soldiers start to pull out of cities and major towns across the country.

“I will be meeting of course with General Ray Odierno and I want to hear first hand his assessment,” Clinton said, referring to the senior US army officer in Iraq and noting the deadly suicide attacks on Thursday and Friday.

“I want his evaluation of what these kinds of rejectionist efforts mean and what can be done to prevent them by both the Iraqi government and the US forces,” she told reporters travelling with her.

The secretary of state was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, other senior government officials and the United Nations Secretary General’s special representative to Iraq Staffan de Mistura.

Clinton’s arrival came just hours after the new US ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill landed in Baghdad to take up his post.

“We want to display and reinforce our continuing commitment to the Iraqi people and to the stability, security and self reliance of Iraq,” Clinton said.US soldiers are due to pull out of Iraqi cities and major towns by the end of June under an agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad last November.

Clinton’s trip came two weeks after President Barack Obama visited Baghdad and warned that the next 18 months in Iraq would be “critical,” and said the war-torn country would soon have to look after itself.

In February, Obama announced a new strategy that will see most combat troops withdraw by August 2010, although a force of up to 50,000 will remain until the end of the following year.

Violence has fallen dramatically since the Sahwa, mostly former Sunni insurgents, allied with US forces against Al-Qaeda in late 2006 as more American troops poured into the country under former president George Bush’s “surge” strategy.

But the past few weeks have witnessed an alarming rise in bombings and suicide attacks.

The toll from Friday’s blasts brought to at least 140 the number of people who have died in the past 48 hours as suicide bombers targeted areas packed with civilians in the capital and a restaurant filled with Iranian pilgrims in central Diyala province.

Hundreds of worshippers had gathered to pray at the Imam Musa al-Kadhim shrine in the historic and predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah in northern Baghdad when the attackers struck Friday lunchtime.

Clinton’s visit comes shortly after the US Senate finally approved the appointment of veteran US diplomat Hill as the new administration’s ambassador to Baghdad.

The former US pointman on North Korea’s nuclear programme inherits the post at a sensitive time six years after the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, and as Obama begins to pull troops out of the country.

-AFP