Iran's leader sets March 2 for first visit to Baghdad

Iran's hard-line president has set March 2 for the start of his landmark visit to Iraq, Baghdad officials said Thursday, but the Iranians postponed the next session of security talks with the United States.

The announcements came as Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno wrapped up his tenure as the No. 2 commander in Iraq with a warning that Tehran wants to keep Iraq's government weak to block any challenges to Iranian influence.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani during his two-day visit, said an Iraqi spokesman.

It will be the first official Iranian visit to Iraq since an eight-year war in the 1980s that left an estimated 1 million people killed or wounded.

U.S. and Iraqi officials also said Iran has postponed the next session of expert-level talks on security with U.S. diplomats. The talks, which had been scheduled for today, were to be the fourth in a series dealing with Iraqi security. No reason for the cancellation was made public.

Friendly fire: Six members of an Awakening Council, groups composed mostly of Sunni Arabs who have turned against the insurgency, were killed early Thursday after they mistakenly fired on U.S. soldiers in the village of Al-Raween in Salahuddin Province, the Iraqi police said. The Americans returned fire, killing them and two women in nearby houses, the police said. A police commander said the group had thought the Americans were insurgents.

Family executed: Nine members of the same family -- a couple and their seven children -- were found dead, apparently executed, in their house in Auja in , 70 miles south of the firefight with Awakening Council members in Salahuddin Province. Auja is the birthplace of Saddam Hussein. The children ranged in age from 7 to 17 years. Ragi Ali, 25, the brother of the slain father, Labeeb Ali Khatir, 50, said each family member had been shot with one bullet in the head and another in the stomach. He said a note was left, signed in red by Tawhid Wal Jihad, an insurgent group.

Civilians targeted: In Baghdad, a suicide bomber exploded a car at midday at a busy market in the sprawling Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. Hospital officials said one person was killed, a 13-year-old boy, though the Ministry of the Interior said later that as many as four had died and 33 were wounded.

'Wish lists': The Army and Marine Corps need nearly $7 billion more than President Bush requested in next year's budget, according to documents that highlight a significant shortfall at a time when ground forces are carrying the brunt of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Navy and Air Force also identified a multibillion-dollar budget gap in what is known on Capitol Hill as service "wish lists." An annual tradition, the services give Congress details on every item and weapons program they wish could have been included in the president's budget request to Congress, but were denied because of financial constraints.

A new epidemic: At least 275 children in southern Iraq have been infected with a disfiguring skin disease. According to the United Nations -- citing reports from Iraq's southern Qadissiyah Province -- 275 children have been struck with leishmaniasis, which is spread by sand flies. Most have a form that causes skin sores, but others have a type that strikes internal organs and can be fatal. Two types of leishmaniasis have been found: cutaneous leishmaniasis, also known as Baghdad boil disease, and leishmaniasis, or kala azar, Hindi for black fever. Cutaneous leishmaniasis can cause facial lesions. Kala azar is lethal.

NEWS SERVICES