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ByLaraJakes The Associated Press IRBIL, IRAQ Iraq's top Kurdish leader warned visiting Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday that a rapid Sunni insur- gent advance has already created "a new reality and a new Iraq," signaling that the U.S. faces major difficul- ties in its efforts to promote unity among the country's divided factions. The U.N., meanwhile, said more than 1,000 peo- ple, most civilians, have been killed in Iraq so far this month, the highest death toll since the U.S. military withdrew from the country in December 2011. Massoud Barzani, whose powerful minority bloc has long functioned as king- maker in Iraqi politics, did not directly mention Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is facing the strongest challenge to his rule since he assumed power in 2006. But al-Maliki has made lit- tle effort beyond rhetoric to win the trust of his critics, who are led by disaffected Sunnis, Kurds and even sev- eral former Shiite allies. Instead the Kurds have deployed their own well- trained security forces known as peshmerga and seized long-coveted ground of their own in the name of defending it from the al- Qaida breakaway group and other Sunni insurgents who have swept through the north. The Kurds are un- likely to give up that terri- tory, including the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk, re- gardless of the status of the fighting. Al-Maliki, meanwhile, has been entirely focused on the security situation, spending hours each day in the main military com- mand center, rather than politics, officials close to his inner circle say, speak- ing on condition of anonym- ity because they weren't au- thorized to release such de- tails. Despite the attention, Iraq's mainly Shiite security forces have failed to wage any successful counteroffen- sives against the insurgents. A weeklong fight for con- trol of Iraq's largest oil re- finery stretched continued Tuesday with helicopter gunships attacking what appeared to be formations of Sunni militants prepar- ing for another assault on the facility in Beiji, a top military official said. Chief military spokes- man Lt. Gen. Qassim al- Moussawi has denied re- ports that the facility has fallen to the rebels. Government air forces also reportedly bombed the the town of Qaim near the Syrian border on Tues- day, days after it was seized by Islamic extremists in An- bar province, west of Bagh- dad. Provincial govern- ment spokesman Dhari al- Rishawi said 17 civilians were killed. Kerry traveled to Irbil, the capital of the self-rule Kurdish region on Tuesday, a day after meeting with al- Maliki and other Iraqi offi- cials in Baghdad, where he pushed for them to adopt new policies that would give more authority to Iraq's mi- nority Sunnis and Kurds. Kerry said after the Baghdad meetings that all the leaders agreed to start the process of seating a new parliament by July 1, which will advance a constitu- tionally required timeta- ble for naming a president, prime minister and a new Cabinet. Al-Maliki's politi- cal bloc won the most seats in parliamentary elections in April but must assem- ble a majority coalition in the legislature in order to secure a third term for the Shiite leader. Kerry has repeatedly said that it's up to Iraqis — not the U.S. or other na- tions — to select their lead- ers. But he also has noted bitterness and growing impatience among all of Iraq's major sects and eth- nic groups with al-Maliki's government. Barzani's support will be crucial for resolving the political impasse because Kurds represent about 20 percent of Iraq's popula- tion and usually vote as a unified bloc. He told Kerry that Kurds are seeking "a solution for the crisis that we have wit- nessed." But, he said, "we are facing a new reality and a new Iraq." Barzani did not elaborate, but he was apparently refer- ring to the Kurds now con- trolling Kirkuk and other areas in northern Iraq that they have long sought to in- corporate into their region. Kerry said at the start of an hour-long meeting that the Kurdish security forces have been "really critical" in helping restrain the in- surgents. "This is a very critical time for Iraq, and the gov- ernment formation chal- lenge is the central challenge that we face," Kerry said. He said Iraqi leaders must "pro- duce the broad-based, inclu- sive government that all the Iraqis I have talked to are de- manding." The U.S. believes a new power-sharing agreement in Baghdadwouldsootheanger directed at the majority Shi- ite government, a rage that is thought to have fueled the ongoing insurgency. Iraq's population is about 60 per- cent Shiite Muslim, whose leaders rose to power with U.S. help after the 2003 fall of former President Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-dom- inated regime. MIDDLE EAST Ku rd l ea de r ci te s 'n ew r ea li ty ' in I ra q KARIMKADIM—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Volunteers of the newly formed "Peace Brigades" participate in a parade Saturday in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, in Baghdad, Iraq. By Haruna Umar The Associated Press MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA Ex- tremists have abducted 91 more people, including tod- dlers as young as 3, in week- end attacks on villages in Nigeria, witnesses said Tuesday, providing fresh ev- idence of the military's fail- ure to curb an Islamic up- rising and the government's inability to provide security. The kidnappings come less than three months af- ter more than 200 school- girls were taken in a mass abduction that embarrassed Nigeria's government and military because of their slow response. Those girls are still being held captive. The most recent vic- tims included 60 girls and women, some of whom were married, and 31 boys, wit- nesses said. A local official confirmed the abductions, but security forces denied them. There was no way to safely and independently confirm the report from Kummabza, 150 kilometers (95 miles) from Maiduguri, capital of Borno state and headquarters of a military state of emergency that has failed to curtail near-daily attacks by Boko Haram fighters. Vigilante leader Aji Khalil said Tuesday the ab- ductions took place Satur- day in an attack that killed four villagers. Khalil lives in Maiduguri but gets re- ports daily from other vigi- lante groups that have had some success in repelling Boko Haram with primi- tive weapons. A senior councilor from the village's Damboa local government told The Asso- ciated Press that abductions had occurred but spoke on condition of anonymity be- cause he was not autho- rized to give information to reporters. He said the re- ports came from elderly sur- vivors of the attack who had walked some 15 miles to the relative safety of other vil- lages. An intelligence officer with Nigeria's Department of State Security also said there had been a mass ab- duction, but he said it oc- curred in Kummabza and three nearby villages be- tween June 13 and 15, and that no one knows the ac- tual number abducted. He also spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. There was no way to rec- oncile the confusion, which also surrounded the first mass abduction in mid- April. Several prominent Nige- rians questioned whether those abductions had taken place, including first lady Patience Jonathan, who claimed the reports were fabricated to discredit her husband's administration. Last week, a presidential committee investigating the April kidnappings stressed that they did happen and clarified the number of stu- dents who have been kid- napped. It said there were 395 students at the school — 119 who escaped during the siege of the school and an- other 57 who escaped in the first couple of days of their abduction, leaving 219 un- accounted for. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith met earlier this month with one of the girls who escaped. "Almost two months later, clearly she was still trauma- tized — you could hear it in her quivering voice and see it in her eyes. Yet she spoke mostly of her deep concern for her friends and class- mates still in captivity and pleaded for their immediate rescue," he said in a state- ment issued Tuesday. But Smith, a Republi- can from New Jersey, also quoted testimony to the House Foreign Relations Committee last week by an- other former U.S. ambassa- dor, Robin Renee Sanders, who warned that "Nigeria is in the beginning of a long war. ... There is no easy fix." John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nige- ria who is an analyst with the Council of Foreign Re- lations, predicted that kid- nappings would continue because, for Boko Haram, the strategy has been "re- markably successful: It fo- cuses attention on the short- comings of the Nigerian government." The latest abductions were the subject of specu- lation at a daily rally Tues- day in the capital of Abuja, an ongoing protest to keep attention on the prolonged trauma of the girls from the village of Chibok. Var- ious speakers worried about the fate of the new victims. The rally to "Bring Back Our Girls" is organized by a group of women from all tribes, religions and ages — an unusual display of unity in a country divided about equally between the mainly Muslim north and predomi- nantly Christian south. Boko Haram — the nick- name means "Western ed- ucation is sinful" — wants to enforce Islamic law throughout the country of 170 million. AFRICA Extremists abduct 91 more people in Nigeria SUNDAY ALAMBA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Women attend a prayer meeting calling on the government to rescue the kidnapped girls of the government secondary school in Chibok on May 27in Abuja, Nigeria. By Vladimir Isachenkov The Associated Press MOSCOW The shaky cease-fire in Ukraine was thrown into peril Tuesday when pro-Moscow separat- ists shot down a Ukrainian military helicopter, killing nine servicemen. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warned he may end the weeklong truce ahead of time. The deadly attack came a day after the rebels vowed to respect the cease-fire, which began last Friday. Russian President Vlad- imir Putin, meanwhile, played the peacemaker, urging Ukraine to extend the truce and sit down for talkswiththerebels.Healso moved to rescind a parlia- mentary resolution autho- rizing him to use the Rus- sian military in Ukraine. Poroshenko declared the cease-fire as part of a plan to end two months of fighting between gov- ernment troops and pro- Russian insurgents in the east. The violence, which erupted after the Krem- lin's lightning annexation of Crimea in March, has left hundreds dead. The cease-fire has been repeatedly broken by spo- radic clashes, and it was violated again Tuesday when rebels used a shoul- der-fired missile to down a helicopter in Slovyansk, a key flashpoint in the in- surgency. Poroshenko said in a statement that the insur- gents had fired on Ukrai- nian positions 35 times since the cease-fire was announced, and he in- structed Ukrainian sol- diers to fire back "without hesitation" if attacked. "The president doesn't exclude that the cease-fire could be lifted ahead of time, taking into account its constant violation by the rebels controlled from abroad," Poroshenko's of- fice said. It added that Poro- shenko expects that his phone call, set for Wednes- day, with Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Fran- cois Hollande would lead to "practical steps by Rus- sia to disarm and recall mercenaries from Ukraine and ensure the reliable pro- tection of the border." The U.S. and NATO have accused Russia of support- ing the rebellion in the east with troops and weapons. Moscow has denied that, saying Russian citizens who joined the insurgents were acting on their own. During a trip Tuesday to Vienna, Putin employed a combinationofpressureand goodwillintendedtoprotect Moscow's interests without triggering heavier Western sanctions, which are likely to be a topic of discussion during a European Union summit on Friday. Putin said that the Ukrainian demand that the insurgents lay down their weapons within a week was unrealistic, ex- plaining that they would be reluctant to disarm for fear of government repri- sals. 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