Iraq's premier expects insurgents to hit hard

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's interim prime minister said Thursday he expects insurgents to strike harder in the coming weeks and announced the creation of an intelligence service designed to combat terrorism.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's comments to The Associated Press came amid a spate of new violence, including a car bomb Thursday that killed 10 people and wounded 40 others. Also, a decapitated body wearing an orange jumpsuit was found in the Tigris River, possibly that of a foreigner taken hostage.

Allawi said militants aiming to undermine Iraq's new government are determined not only to kill civilians and soldiers but also to destroy the nation's infrastructure in a campaign of sabotage.

"Whether it's electricity, oil, water, hospitals, roads, bridges, this is a clear sign that the terrorists are so evil that they are not only satisfied by hitting the targets, and killing and inflicting loss of life, but also [causing] destruction," he said.

The violence -- and the growing hesitation of many countries to send soldiers -- led Iraq's new premier to issue a plea for help Thursday from nations with large Muslim populations including India, Pakistan and Egypt.

Allawi said he also was looking for soldiers from Bangladesh and Morocco, apparently hoping the Islamic insurgents targeting Western forces and civilians would be less likely to attack Muslim troops.

But there were no immediate takers, and at least one polite rebuff from mostly Muslim Malaysia, which said it probably won't dispatch troops to Iraq.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who heads the world's largest Islamic political organization, said his country likely would send only a medical team -- and not even that until "the situation is a little more stable." He did say he would urge other Muslim nations to deploy troops.

Iraq's new government has talked increasingly tough about cracking down on insurgents. It passed emergency laws giving Allawi broad powers to combat violence; police have conducted sweeps of terror suspects in Baghdad and other cities.

Those actions may have spurred militants to launch their series of attacks in recent days, Allawi said.

"They know that they should not give us a chance to rebuild our capabilities -- security, police and the army. So they want to undermine our efforts," he said, sitting in front of the red, green and white Iraqi flag.

They will "hit harder in the weeks ahead, and maybe even months ahead."

Scores of people have been killed in suicide bombings, shootings and roadside assaults since the transfer of sovereignty from U.S. occupation officials to the interim government June 28. At least 71 Iraqis and 38 U.S. troops have been killed since then.

Militant groups also have taken several foreign contractors hostage, threatening to kill them if their governments did not withdraw troops or meet other demands. Several hostages have been beheaded, including U.S. businessman Nicholas Berg.

The headless body that Iraqi police found Thursday in northern Iraq had not been identified. U.S. and Bulgarian officials were investigating whether it belonged to a Bulgarian hostage that militants affiliated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said they killed Wednesday.

At a news conference earlier Thursday, Allawi announced the creation of a new intelligence service -- the General Security Directorate -- dedicated to defeating the insurgency.

Allawi said an expected amnesty for insurgents would be announced next week. He reiterated his government's plans to restore the death penalty -- suspended during the U.S. occupation -- to punish militants.

"We need some sanctions that are up to the scale of those crimes," Allawi said in his government's defense.

The prime minister also announced that he would make his first foreign tour as prime minister to nearby Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Allawi spoke amid an intense wave of violence, some of it targeting his 17-day-old government.

A car bombing near police and government buildings in the western city of Haditha killed 10 people and wounded 40 Thursday morning. The attack came a day after a bombing in Baghdad near the area housing government offices and the U.S. Embassy killed at least 10 people.

Also Thursday, gunmen opened fire on a car belonging to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, killing one official and wounding two others. Zebari was not in the vehicle.

Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib, with Allawi at the news conference, said the government had arrested terrorists and criminals in the cities of Mosul and Baghdad in recent days.