TIKRIT, Iraq - Eighty suspected insurgents were killed in a 17-hour operation involving Iraqi and US forces launched against their training camp north of Baghdad, an Iraqi army commander said Wednesday.
Based on passports and documents seized, a number of foreigners were at the camp, located in a remote area near Lake Tharthar, according to US and Iraqi military officials.
"We have killed 80 fighters in a battle that lasted 17 hours. We lost 12 of our men including four officers," said Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim with the Joint Coordination Centre, a rapid reaction unit that includes Iraqi and US forces.
A US military spokesman based in Tikrit confirmed the operation, which took place on Tuesday, but would not comment on the insurgent casualty toll given by the Iraqi side.
"There was a significant number of insurgent forces located at that site and since yesterday afternoon Iraqi and coalition forces have control of it," Major Richard Goldenberg of the 42nd Infantry Division told AFP.
"There is an undetermined number of insurgent casualties. They have been denied a safe haven."
Insurgents at the camp first opened fire at a force from the Iraqi interior ministry`s 1st Commando Battalion as it approached the site, killing a number of them and prompting US troops to intervene by air and ground.
An officer with the commandos, Lieutenant Colonel Sarmad Hussein, said the operation involved 240 of his men and that Algerians, Saudis and Syrians were among the fighters at the camp in the village of Ain al-Hilwa on the border between the restive and mostly Sunni Al-Anbar and Salaheddin provinces.
Leaflets posted on buildings in Tikrit and nearby Ad-Dawr and signed by the so-called Secret Islamic Army, one of the main militant groups believed to be active in the area, said only 11 rebels were killed in the raid.
"Iraqi media, even more than western outlets, are trying to rile up public opinion against us and to offend Islam. This battle has restored our honour," said the leaflets.
Led by Major General Rashid Flaih, the commandos have arrested dozens of suspects over the past few months in operations around Samarra and other tense spots in Salaheddin, the home province of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.
They have been paraded, shamed and interrogated by Flaih and others on state-owned Iraqiyah television in a controversial nightly show called "Terrorists in the Grip of Justice."
Both Anbar, home to the former rebel-stronghold of Fallujah, and the region around Samarra, north of the capital, continue to see almost daily attacks against Iraqi and US forces despite major assaults against rebels in both areas last autumn.
On the political front, talks on finalising the line-up of the next cabinet were set to resume Wednesday between the election-winning Shiites and Kurds, according to Shiite negotiator Maryam Rayes.
If a deal is sealed the newly-elected parliament could meet as early as Thursday to vote in the next government, nearly two months after January`s landmark elections, according to Rayes.
Prime ministerial candidate Ibrahim al-Jafaari, who like Rayes is member of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), issued Tuesday a deadline for wrapping up talks after spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani had expressed his discomfort with the delay late Sunday.
"We hope it would be Thursday but the limit for how long this can drag on is the end of the month," Jafaari said on state-owned Al-Iraqiyah television.
Sistani has put his weight behind the UIA catapulting the majority Shiites to the helm of power for the first time in Iraq`s modern history.
The long-deprived community will take 16 to 17 ministries, the Kurds will hold seven to eight and the Sunni minority will be awarded four to six, according to Rayes.
Kurdish sources gave near matching accounts of the next government`s shape, although they suggested the parliament might not convene until next week.
The Shiites will take the interior and finance ministries, along with the cabinet post of national security advisor, said Rayes, whose list won 146 seats in the 275-member parliament.
The second-placed Kurds, with 77 seats, will receive seven to eight ministries, including the foreign ministry and probably oil, she said, echoing similar reports from a Kurdish source.
Other posts that were locked up for the Kurds included the presidency, to be held by Jalal Talabani, and the post of deputy prime minister, the source said.
One complication that could change the cabinet makeup is whether outgoing prime minister Iyad Allawi decides to join the government, the Kurdish source said. Rayes said she thought it was doubtful that Allawi or his followers would join the government.
Iraq`s embittered Sunni minority, which largely boycotted the election, would probably be awarded between four and six posts, while the Christian and Turkmen minorities would receive one ministry each, she said.
Both Shiites and Kurds are keen to ensure a role for Sunnis, who have largely powered the insurgency.

03/23/2005 10:03 GMT