Iraqi PM Reorganizes Forces to Fight Terror

[DC09]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim prime minister announced a restructuring of the country's security forces Sunday, grouping all Iraqi troops under a central command whose chief duty is tackling insurgents plaguing the country.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi also said his government was considering imposing "martial law" in Iraq's trouble spots to help police and paramilitaries bring order.

He made a plea for more international help in Iraq's guerrilla war, asking outside countries to send troops and donate military hardware to bolster Iraq's beleaguered forces.

"Until our forces are fully capable we will continue to need support from our friends," Allawi told reporters.

Allawi has made security his top priority, with violence persisting as his government prepares to take sovereignty from Iraq's American occupiers on June 30. On Sunday, a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed two Iraqi soldiers, and U.S. clashed with insurgents in the city of Samarra, north of the capital, where three days of fighting has killed 10 Iraqis.

The incoming government is considering an amnesty for Iraqi guerrillas who haven't taken direct roles in killings of U.S.-led occupation forces or Iraqis, Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib told reporters, offering few details.

The security plan announced by Allawi focused on a strengthening of the Iraqi military, bolstering its role in fighting the insurgency. U.S. administrators had envisaged the military as a small force, meant solely to deal with external threats rather than violence within Iraq's borders.

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