Iraq Watch: August 8, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari on Monday sent a government delegation to the southern Shiite city of Samawah, the scene of yesterdays violent demonstrations which left at least one person dead and 75 others wounded.

The protesters, which demanded the resignation of the local governor, were angry over the lack of government-provided basic services such as clean water and electricity. Monday in Samawah, where Japanese peace-keeping troops are based in Iraq, armed insurgents could be seen openly roaming the city streets.

In the capital city of Baghdad a massive sandstorm caused the postponement of an important meeting between key Iraqi politicians scheduled for Sunday evening and today. The meeting, was intended to let leaders from all of Iraq's ethnic groups and sects meet face-to-face in an effort to resolve some key issues that remain in writing Iraq's new constitution that is due a week from today on August 15. The function, organized by President Jalal Talabani, has been tentatively delayed until at least tomorrow.

In violence on Monday, the bodies of five Iraqi policemen were discovered floating in a river near the town of Samarra. Two more executed bodies were found in Numaniya, 110 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Two officials, one from the Ministry of Trade and the other from the Environment Ministry, were killed in separate shootings in the capital.

Elsewhere, Reuters reports that a suicide car bomber attacked an American patrol in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, located about 30 miles west of Baghdad. The U.S. military had no immediate word on the incident.