Neighbors to join Iraq talks

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria, have agreed to join U.S. and British representatives to discuss the Iraqi security crisis at a regional conference March 10 in Baghdad, the government said Wednesday.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he will be issuing formal invitations shortly to the neighboring countries and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China. Zebari said the Iranians agreed to participate in a meeting with the other neighbors but "they have some questions" about a separate session that would be held the same day with the five permanent council members.

Iran has had little public comment on the conference so far. But in the past, Iranian leaders have been vocal in accusing the United States of trying to use the U.N. as a way to "gang up" on it. For their part, Sunni Arab countries like Egypt still hold grave concerns about the direction taken by Iraq's Shiite-led government, raising concerns the conference will make little headway on key issues such as security.

Iraq's relations with its Arab neighbors have been rocky because of fears that the Shiite-led government is falling under Iran's influence. Originally, the Iraqi government had been reluctant to endorse the regional conference, fearing pressure from Sunni-dominated regimes, but it dropped those objections last year so long as the gathering was held on Iraqi soil.

Two Arab diplomats in Cairo said Wednesday that the U.S. recently increased pressure on some Arab governments to press them to attend the conference. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.

The March conference got a big boost Tuesday when Washington said it would attend, leading to the possibility it could discuss Iraq's security with adversaries Syria and Iran.

The Bush administration had waited to embrace the idea until Iraq made progress on a deal governing national distribution of oil revenue. Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abawi said the United States, Britain, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran said they will attend.

Syria and Egypt confirmed separately they would attend, but there was no immediate comment from Jordan or Saudi Arabia. Bahrain, Turkey and Kuwait were also invited, along with the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Mustafa Alani, an expert in Iraqi affairs at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, said while the conference will officially focus on Iraq's security, neighboring Sunni Arab countries and the U.S. will use it to convey their disquiet at Iranian influence.

Each side has accused another of being responsible for the spiraling violence in Iraq. The U.S. claims Iran is sending weapons and money to Shiite extremists in Iraq. Iraqi officials, meanwhile, have complained that Syria harbors former Saddam Hussein loyalists and allows weapons and foreign fighters to slip into the country, while Sunni countries believe the fault lies with Iraq's Shiite-led government.

U.S. and Iraqi officials announced Wednesday what they said were tangible signs that the latest joint security crackdown launched in Baghdad more than two weeks ago is working — even as car bombs, mortar attacks and shootings continued to claim lives.

In separate declarations, representatives of the U.S. and Iraqi security forces said they had killed dozens of militants, captured hundreds and seized large caches of weaponry since the crackdown began Feb. 13.

A car bomb ripped through a bustling shopping district in a religiously mixed neighborhood of western Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding about 20.

Hours after the Baiyaa attack, police said guards outside the Bab al-Sheik police station in central Baghdad fired on a suicide truck bomber as he approached them. The bomber changed course and crashed into a cement barrier, detonating his explosives. Two civilians were killed and two policemen and another civilian were wounded in the blast and exchange of gunfire, police said.

Information from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.