Al-Maliki says Iraq needs him as prime minister

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, struggling for his political future in a snarled, months-long contest to form a new government, warned Wednesday that failure to return him to power would lead to Iraq's descent into the violence and sectarian strife that dominated the country when he took over in 2006.

Al-Maliki said in an interview in his Baghdad office that he would resist efforts to curtail his authority if he did return. Only a strong leader can navigate the challenges ahead for a country bracing for a U.S. military withdrawal and still beset by the remnants of an insurgency, he said.

"I will not be a prime minister with the job of a traffic cop -- 'You can go now,' 'You can come,'" Al-Maliki said. "I will be either a prime minister, under the constitution, or not a prime minister at all."

Al-Maliki is competing for the top job with Ayad Allawi, whose coalition edged out Al-Maliki's in the March 7 vote.

Insurgents shot down a NATO helicopter Wednesday in southern Afghanistan, killing four U.S. soldiers, and another coalition service member died in a roadside bombing.

The five coalition troops were killed in Helmand Province, part of the Taliban's heartland in the south and a key focus of President Obama's troop surge aimed at forcing the insurgency to negotiate an end to the war. So far this month, 29 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan.

Nineteen of those killed were Americans, according to icasualties.org, which tracks U.S. and NATO military deaths.

A huge explosion tore through the wedding celebration of a local man who had joined an anti-Taliban militia in rural Kandahar Province, killing at least 39, provincial officials said.

The blast occurred in the courtyard of a family compound where hundreds of guests had gathered, striking shortly after dark, adding to the terror and confusion. In the smoke and fire, guests ran out of the house into the neighboring orchards .

"I saw the dead bodies all around me, lying like slaughtered animals," said Noor al-Haq, 22 who was awaiting treatment at a hospital in Kandahar.

The groom and several relatives were members of a recently formed militia designed to keep out intruders.