Good news from iraq

Report: Iraqi militants hunting al-Qaida BAGHDAD, April 16, 2007 (UPI) -- Armed militants in Iraq have sought the Baghdad government's permission to hunt down members of al-Qaida, the country's official newspaper reported. "Negotiations have taken place between the government and armed groups as part of the reconciliation process. Positive outcome is near," the al-Sabah newspaper reported Monday. At least three groups were reportedly in negotiations with the government and Iraqi military, a correspondent for Kuwait's KUNA news agency reported. The report said they included Islamic Army in Iraq, the 1920s Revolution Brigades, al-Fatah Brigades and the al-Rashedeen Army. Earlier, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said five other armed groups had expressed willingness to lay down arms and get involved in the political process, the report said. BAGHDAD - U.S. troops said yesterday that they had found two large caches of nitric acid a highly corrosive substance with chemical weapons potential in abandoned houses used by Sunni insurgents in western Baghdad. Other chemically laced bombs used in terrorist attacks recently have been spiked with chlorine. Acting on a tip from neighbors, members of the Stryker Brigade's Alpha Company found 31 barrels of nitric acid Saturday in the walled-off front yard of a house that had been raided less than two weeks earlier. Members of the same company were clearing another abandoned house a few hundred yards away when they found an additional two 5-gallon containers of nitric acid. They also discovered four 50-pound bags of an unknown powder, artillery casings filled with the powder, several buckets for mixing, zinc oxide and benzene. Nitric acid "is one of the chemicals used to make homemade explosives," said Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Wallace, battalion medic for the 2nd battalion, 3rd infantry regiment of the 3-2 Stryker Brigade. "It's an acid and causes chemical burns to the skin and burns the lungs and esophagus if it is inhaled," Sgt. Wallace told The Washington Times. http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/04/16/report_iraqi_militants_hunting_alqaida/