10 U.S. troops die; oil accord reported near

The deaths of 10 U.S. troops Saturday in Iraq, seven in roadside bomb attacks, brought to 30 the week’s toll for American military personnel.

The deaths came as Iraq’s parliament agreed to cut its summer holiday in half, and some said a deal had been reached on a proposal for sharing the country’s oil wealth.

Both legislative developments were small signs that the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was creeping toward meeting White House demands to show political progress and stem violence that continues to claim Iraqi and U.S. lives.

The parliament had been scheduled to recess for July and August. Iraqi lawmakers denied that their decision to continue working through the end of July was in response to pressure from Washington and said they were trying to make progress on legislation. Some U.S. leaders, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, recently have visited Baghdad, the capital, to urge lawmakers not to take a summer recess.

The apparent agreement on sharing of oil revenue is the first sign of tangible legislative progress in months, but Iraqis have announced compromises before, only to see legislation stall.

The military reported Saturday that roadside bombings killed four U.S. troops northwest of Baghdad, an airman in Tikrit and two troops in east Baghdad in an attack that was followed by small-arms fire. A soldier also was killed when a patrol in south Baghdad was hit by small-arms fire.

Two soldiers died Saturday in noncombat incidents, one in Baghdad and another in Tikrit, the military reported.

The British also reported one military death.

The attacks brought the U.S. military death toll since the March 2003 invasion to 3,557, according to icasualties.org, an independent website that tracks the deaths in the Iraq theater.

In Baghdad, police reported finding 15 bodies, all presumed victims of sectarian violence.

In Hillah, 60 miles south of the capital, police said a car bombing killed four people and injured 18.

Hospital officials in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, reported that five civilians were killed in clashes between police officers and militants. Residents also reported that after the clash, police dragged the body of one of the militants through the streets, then hung it from a telephone pole.

The U.S. military said early Saturday that it had killed at least 17 Al Qaeda militants on the fourth day of a targeted combat operation in Diyala province.

Since the operation began, at least 55 suspected Al Qaeda fighters have been killed and 23 detained, the military said. The U.S. also said seven other suspected militants were killed in the last two days in operations targeting Al Qaeda leaders.

Although the U.S. military generally has refrained from issuing body counts of suspected militants, military officials have been releasing more numbers as they highlight new operations designed to ferret out Al Qaeda cells in Al Anbar and Diyala provinces and around Baghdad.

In hope of easing violence, U.S. officials have been pushing for the Iraqi parliament to pass an oil revenue-sharing law, set a date for provincial elections, agree on constitutional reforms and approve legislation easing restrictions on government employment and benefits for former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.

The revenue-sharing law is the only goal that has appeared readily achievable, though legislation has yet to be introduced in parliament. Some Kurdish and Shiite Muslim lawmakers said Saturday that they had reached agreement on how to divide the oil revenue.

“The [Shiite] United Iraqi Alliance together with the Kurds have agreed to this law,” said Wail Abdul Lateef, a Cabinet member who is with a secular coalition. “This law is very important for Iraq, which is living under enormous poverty even though its citizens are living over a gold lake.”

Kurdish and Shiite blocs control about 80% of parliament seats. Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker, said several issues related to revenue sharing were being debated, including how much power a state-run oil company would have. But he has said that the government of the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan had agreed to take 17% of the oil wealth.

“They agreed upon this very important item about how they divide the revenues, and they agreed they will discuss the other points,” Othman said.

U.S. officials remain cautiously optimistic that the oil law will pass this summer. Approving the law would show that the central government can function and it would provide an important first agreement for the sects and regions to share the country’s wealth, a U.S. Embassy official said last week.

“I think people understand the significance of these laws,” the official said. “These will lock Iraq into a political and economic power-sharing agreement on Iraq’s most valuable natural resource.”

julian.barnes@latimes.com

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Times staff writers Tina Susman and Said Rifai in Baghdad contributed to this report.