by Assad AbboudTue Oct 3, 8:44 AM ET
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was holding talks with Iraq's political leaders after the divided nation's factions signed up to a plan to stem spiralling sectarian violence killing 100 people a day.
Tuesday's meetings on how to implement the plan came as the US military announced that eight US soldiers were killed on Monday in Baghdad, including four in a single bomb blast, with a total of 17 troops dead in three days.
The plan took the form of a solemn pledge signed by leaders of the political factions on Monday, but at least one Sunni leader said the cost of the plan's failure would be "the end of Iraq".
"We pledge to God, his Prophet and the Iraqi people to address the crisis which is causing all this bloodshed and we pledge to stop this bleeding," said the signed statement.
Central to the plan is a crackdown on the activities of illegal armed groups, such as the Shiite Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that holds sway in many cities in the country.
"We welcome any efforts or actions leading to the end of the bleeding of Iraqis," said Sahib al-Ameri, director of Sadr's foundation for martyrs in the Shiite shrine city of Najaf.
The head of the Sunni parliamentary bloc, Adnan al-Dulaimi, told AFP that "if everyone is honest and keeps to their commitments, it will be positive for the Iraqi people and put an end to the sectarianism. If not, it will be the end of Iraq", said Dulaimi.
The magnitude of the crisis was further emphasized by Tuesday's report that 9,000 Iraqis are fleeing their homes every week, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Maliki's plan envisages the creation of neighborhood committees comprised of representatives of different political, religious and civil society groups.
These committees would monitor the situation in their neighborhoods and convey concerns to a central monitoring body about such issues as militia activity or abuses by local security forces.
There would also be a committee to "monitor the media" for divisive sectarian messages. Much of Iraq's media is controlled by the individual political and sectarian groups and tend to strongly reflect their opinions.
Maliki's plan is only the latest of the many initiatives he has presented since he was sworn into office in May.
These include a much-publicized national reconciliation initiative launched in June as well as a multi-phase military operation code-named Together Forward aimed at stabilizing the capital.
Parliamentarians from different political parties took time out in their session debating new laws to welcome the prime minister's initiative.
"We hope this plan will be a practical step that is actually implemented on the ground," said Majid Hamid Mussa, a deputy with the secular Iraqiya list of former premier Iyad Allawi.
Ahead of the announcement of Maliki's plan, Baghdad was shocked by two high profile mass kidnappings that saw dozens of people snatched off the street by gunmen wearing military-style uniforms.
Many later turned up in the grim daily harvest of corpses found by police on Baghdad's streets or downstream in the Tigris.
The interior ministry, in a rare public acknowledgement of accountability, suspended the National Police commander for Amil neighborhood where 26 people were kidnapped on Sunday.
In a joint statement, US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and coalition forces commander US General George W. Casey welcomed the plan.
"This is a significant step in the right direction and shows that the Iraqi leaders want their country to succeed and are responding to the wishes of their people for security," the statement said.
In continued violence around the country six people were killed in a series of incidents around Baghdad, including two when a man blew himself up in a fish market.
Nine other people died in a series of attacks in Baquba, a restive city northeast of the capital.
Police also discovered on a highway nearby the bodies of a man, his five children and a nephew, bound and shot through the head. The Shiite family had been kidnapped earlier by gunmen.
Four bodies turned up elsewhere in the country.