Thousands of weapons the United States has provided Iraqi security forces are missing, according a new report to Congress.
The Pentagon cannot account for 14,030 weapons — 13,180 semiautomatic pistols, 751 assault rifles and 99 machine guns — almost four per cent of the semiautomatic pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons it began supplying to Iraq since the end of 2003.
Many other weapons cannot be repaired because parts or technical manuals are lacking, the report stated.
It will be difficult to track the missing weapons as the Defence Department registered the serial numbers of only about three per cent of the approximately 370,000 weapons it provided.
The report comes as the U.S. military's death toll in Iraq for the month of October reached 101 on Monday, making it one of the deadliest months for American troops since the war began in March 2003.
November 2004 saw the greatest number of soldiers killed — 137. In April 2004, 135 died while 107 died in January 2005.
The latest two casualties were a member of the 89th Military Police Brigade, who was killed by small arms fire on Monday in eastern Baghdad, and a marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 who died in combat Sunday in Anbar province, the U.S. military said.
Blast kills 80
Elsewhere, at least 80 people were killed in Iraq on Monday, including 33 who had gathered in Sadr City, a Baghdad suburb, hoping to land jobs as construction workers.
The rise in civilian casualties is deepening local political tensions.
On Sunday, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's ranking Sunni politician, threatened to resign if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not move swiftly to eradicate militia groups.
Mohammed Shaker, a key aide to al-Hashemi, said the threat was intended to send a message to the government over the rising sectarian violence.
"We cannot live with this situation indefinitely," he said.
Sunni ally joins protest
He was joined Monday by a Sunni ally, Adnan al-Dulaimi, who threatened to withdraw the Iraqi Accordance Front from parliament and the cabinet unless security is improved.
"If current conditions continue, Iraq will be destroyed," al-Dulaimi said.
Al-Maliki relies on the backing of two Shia political organizations and has resisted U.S. pressure to eradicate their private armies — al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigade.
The armies, especially the Mahdi Army, have been deeply involved in months of sectarian killings in Baghdad and central Iraq.
Both militias have infiltrated the mostly Shia security forces, who suffered about 300 deaths during Ramadan, mainly at the hands of Sunni insurgents.
With files from the Associated Press
Related
More World Headlines »
- Egyptian police seize explosives buried in desert
- Egyptian police say they have found about 1,400 kilograms of explosives buried in two caches in the Sinai desert.
- N. Korea wants Japan out of nuclear talks
- North Korea says it wants Japan out of six-party nuclear disarmament talks, which have been stalled since November 2005, because it's "just a territory of the U.S."
- Two Palestinian women die serving as human shields for gunmen
- Two Palestinian women are killed by Israeli fire after hundreds answer a call for human shields to protect gunmen holed up in a Gaza mosque.
- Canadian naval mechanic dies in Bahamas
- The Canadian Navy and Bahamian authorities are investigating after a 22-year-old sailor died on a shore trip Friday.
- Joneses break world record in Wales
- Keeping up with the Joneses acquired a whole new meaning on Friday. It now means trying to break the world record for the largest gathering of people with the same last name.
World Features
- Washington File Henry Champ's blog
