BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari on Tuesday vowed to beef up security in the war-weary country as four US troops, four Italians and one Iraqi soldier were killed in air crashes.
Jaafari laid out his fledging government's ambitions before parliament, focusing on the twin priorities of dealing with rampant insecurity and drawing up a permanent constitution before fresh elections are held in December.
The most pressing issue for the government, facing a sharp escalation in attacks since the cabinet was sworn in early May, remains how to tackle the insurgency with some 700 people killed this month alone.
"In order to accelerate a return to stability, the government will allocate sufficient funds to relaunch the intelligence and national defence services," the Shiite premier said.
Jaafari also repeated the idea of setting up a truth and justice commission, similar to one created in post-apartheid South Africa, to end once and for all recriminations over crimes committed under former dictator Saddam Hussein.
He also pledged to improve essential services like water and electricity, the number one concern of the population that elected him in the landmark January polls.
The prime minister stressed the nation's federal nature, telling lawmakers that the government's objectives were "building a federal, pluralist Iraq while respecting human rights and public freedoms."
The four dead American soldiers were travelling with the Iraqi on a mission in eastern Diyala province Monday when their Iraqi air force light plane crashed, US Lieutenant Colonel Fred Wellman said, without elaborating on the cause.
Four Italians died in another crash in the south of the country when their military helicopter crashed during the night near the city of Nasiriyah, where Italian troops are based, the Italian army said.
It said in a statement that the helicopter "came down overnight for reasons that remain to be determined."
Their deaths bring to 24 the number of Italians killed since Rome deployed some 3,000 troops to Iraq in June 2003 as part of the US-led military coalition.
Near Baquba, north of Baghdad, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and six wounded in an attack on their convoy, an Iraqi army officer said.
And the Iraqi government announced that the governor of the restive western province of Al-Anbar, Nawaf Raja Farhan al-Mahalawi, had been found dead after he was taken hostage during a major US sweep of the area earlier this month.
Rebels with ties to the network of Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed they captured the governor as US forces pressed on with "Operation Matador", during which the Jordanian-born militant was reportedly wounded.
An audio message attributed to Zarqawi and posted on the Internet said he had only been lightly wounded and was still with his troops, the latest in a series of contradictory messages on the health of the Al-Qaeda frontman.
"After the information according to which I was seriously wounded... I want to reassure you that all this is pure rumour and totally unfounded... but there are light wounds," said the voice.
It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the statement.
Iraqi troops meanwhile stepped up Operation Lightning, the largest domestic security operation to date, manning roadblocks and checking vehicles entering Baghdad for arms and explosives.
The offensive involving up to 40,000 soldiers and policemen aims to cut off rebel access to the capital, which is to be divided into 22 separate sectors in two areas east and west of the Tigris River.
Once around 675 fixed checkpoints and an undetermined number of mobile roadblocks are established, the sectors are to be searched street by street to flush out fighters who have sown terror in the Iraqi capital since the May 8 inauguration of Iraq's first democratically elected post-Saddam government.
On the political front, moderate Sunni leader Mohsen Abdel Hamid described in detail the detention of himself and his three sons by US troops in a dawn raid on Monday.
"It was terrifying, they came with dogs which they unleashed on the guards and turned the house upside down," Hamid told journalists.
He expressed his indignation that the US military had not yet made a formal apology, despite having admitted the mistake, and said that money seized had not yet been returned.
"I call for an end to this kind of operation against the country's political figures," he said.
The US blunder was also being roundly condemned in parliament.
"This kind of operation only favours extremist voices that do not believe in the virtues of dialogue and are adepts at terrorism," said Shiite MP Ali Dabbagh.
The botched operation undermined efforts to bring Sunni political parties into Iraq's fledgling democratic process.
Meanwhile, the first domestic flight since the fall of Saddam landed in the southern city of Basra after taking off from Baghdad an hour and a half earlier.
British forces provided airport security for the service, which is to offer four flights a week.

05/31/2005 11:34 GMT