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Arab leaders push for troop withdrawal from Iraq

U.S. Senators tell Iraqi leaders to hasten government formation

KHARTOUM (SUDAN): Arab leaders will urge Iraqis to form a national unity government which would lead to the withdrawal of coalition forces, said a draft of a resolution to be issued at their Khartoum summit.

The 22 leaders will call for ``a quick formation of a national unity government in Iraq which would help in achieving security and stability, preserve the unity of Iraq and its people and pave the way for the withdrawal of foreign troops,'' said the draft viewed on Saturday by AFP.

This would be the first time Arab leaders call collectively for the withdrawal of the coalition forces from the war-torn country.

Meanwhile in Iraq, gunbattles raged south of Baghdad on Saturday, and two key U.S. Senators said they had told Iraqi leaders that American patience was growing thin and it was urgent that they overcome their stalemate and quickly form a national unity government.

Sunni-Shia clash

Some 40 persons reportedly were killed or injured — no breakdown was immediately available — in the clash between forces of the Shia Mehdi Army militia and Sunni militants near Mahmoudiya, 30 km south of the capital, police reported.

Hospital officials said two civilians were killed when a mortar shell slammed into their house near the fighting.

The delegation led by Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona who supported the invasion of Iraq, was the second top-level group of American politicians in less than a week to journey to Baghdad to pressure Iraqi leaders to speed the process of forming a government.

``I come away with the impression that the Iraqi leaders understand the sense of urgency we have conveyed to them. We all know the polls show declining support among the American people,'' Mr. McCain told a news conference.

Wisconsin Democrat and war opponent Sen. Russell Feingold joined Mr. McCain in pressing for the quick formation of a government, but he also declared his concern that the continued presence of American forces was prolonging the conflict.Violence continued throughout the country on Saturday. A woman school teacher and a Sunni mosque preacher were shot dead in Baghdad. The teacher was killed by Iraqi soldiers as she drove past their convoy.

AP

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