US FORCES have endured one of their bloodiest days in Iraq in months, when nine soldiers died in Baghdad within 24 hours and at least six more were killed during a weekend of bombings and shootings.

The high death toll came as the Iraqi Government started another attempt at forging a peace deal that might staunch the bloodletting.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, whose previous reconciliation attempts are regarded as failures, announced a four-point plan based on neighbourhood committees to report on sectarian militias and government security forces. But the powers of the committees and the size of the areas they would cover are as yet unclear.

The Iraqi parliament is increasingly riven by sectarian tensions, with Sunnis accusing the dominant Shia parties of allowing their powerful militias — many of whom serve in the Army — to act as death squads. Many Shia politicians accuse their Sunni colleagues of being in league with Sunni insurgents and terrorists. The new deal, which included forming a central oversight committee monthly reviews and media monitoring to tackle sectarian bias, was hailed by American officials, who have seen little progress since the first permanent government after the invasion took power in Iraq in the spring.

“Now begins the hard work of implementing the plan,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, who cautioned the Iraqi Prime Minister that he had only two months to stem the bloodshed or face disaster.

Many Iraqi leaders expressed doubts about the plan, pushed through by parties whose own militias are blamed for much of the violence. “Those who signed this blessed agreement have to confess, at least to themselves, that they are the basis of the problem,” Izzat Shabandar, of the secular Iraqi Bloc, said. Others dismissed it as a short-term measure to allow Mr al-Maliki to dodge intense pressure from Washington to seek a political way out of a spiralling sectarian conflict.

None of Mr al-Maliki’s previous security plans has worked. General Lance Smith, a senior US general, said violence may never cease in Iraq.

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