Sunnis bear brunt of violence, says Hashemi

Baghdad: Sunni Arabs are victims of ethnic "cleansing" and account for the majority of the thousands of Iraqis killed last year, said Iraqi Vice President Tariq Al Hashemi.

A recent report put last year's death toll at 23,000. Hashemi said he could not confirm the numbers "but I am not surprised at this figure. And I could say easily that majority of them are Sunni."

Hashemi said that the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra last February triggered a "continuous, ongoing cleansing in Baghdad to kick out all Sunnis".

Hashemi lost two brothers and a sister in gun attacks last year.

Sectarian attacks are killing hundreds of people in Baghdad every week. Shiite leader Abdul Aziz Al Hakim said earlier this week that Shiites were suffering from "sectarian genocide".

Hashemi also welcomed US President George W. Bush's announcement of 21,500 extra US troops, saying there was an "acute shortage" of manpower.

"Unfortunately for some time to come we will rely primarily on the coalition forces until we get a patriotic, a professional armed forces."