Iraqi officials urge government to act after bomb

BAGHDAD, Feb 4 (Reuters) Iraqi officials angered by a truck bomb which killed 135 in Baghdad urged the government today to take swift action by launching a major security plan promised by the prime minister in January.

Yesterday's attack in Sadriya, the worst single bombing since the invasion in 2003, shocked many Iraqis and added urgency to Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's plan to go after militias and insurgents to halt sectarian violence in Baghdad.

''It is a disaster. What happened is a total disaster even by our standards, the standards of Iraqi violence,'' said an Iraqi government official.

''What happened in Sadriya is a terrorist act. It is a human disaster. We call on the government to take further measures and that is what we expect from the Baghdad plan,'' said parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab.

''We ask them to strike back with an iron fist.'' Two Shi'ite officials from the powerful Shi'ite Alliance expected the security plan to begin within 10 days.

''The attack should speed up work on the plan,'' a senior official told Reuters.

''We still need some political support. It may be announced soon,'' the official said.

Salim al Jibouri, a politician from the Sunni Arab minority, said the government must guarantee that it will respect human rights and not use excessive force when it implements the plan.

''We support speeding up the implementation of the security plan but it has to be done with restrictions, such as respecting human rights,'' he told Reuters.

US President George W Bush plans to send in 21,500 more troops in an attempt to quell the violence.

The build-up -- on top of 130,000 US troops already in Iraq -- is widely seen as a final attempt to avert all-out sectarian civil war between Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority and Sunni Arabs once dominant under Saddam Hussein.

A US intelligence report has concluded that the violence between Sunni Arabs and Shi'ites now meets the definition of a civil war.

Other officials warned that Saturday's bomb attack, which occurred in a Shi'ite area, had angered Shi'ites, who were losing confidence in the government's ability to protect them.

''There is anger against the government among Shi'ite public opinion now,'' said a senior Shi'ite official in Maliki's coalition.

''It is a strike against the Shi'ites. People are getting fed up and very upset. They are asking for action from the government. They want an answer to these killings,'' he said.

''But the Baghdad plan is being delayed because of the Americans.

Since the plan has been drafted by Iraqis they say they want to study it more,'' he said.

But a US general warned on Sunday that the Baghdad plan would not produce results overnight and it would take time to bring in reinforcements.

''People must be patient. Give the government and coalition forces a chance to fully implement it. It will take some time for additional Iraqi and US forces to be deployed,'' said Major General William Caldwell, the US military spokesman in Iraq.

Reuters MS DB2114