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ByHamzaHendawi The Associated Press BAGHDAD U.S. Secre- tary of State John Kerry warned Mideast nations on Wednesday against taking new military action in Iraq that might heighten sectar- ian divisions, after Syria launched airstrikes across the border and Iran flew surveillance drones over the neighboring country. The U.S. and a senior Iraqi military official con- firmed that Syrian war- planes bombed militants' positions Tuesday in and near the border crossing in the town of Qaim. The Iraqi official said Iraq's other neighbors — Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — were all bolster- ing flights just inside their airspace to monitor the sit- uation. He spoke on condi- tion of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. American officials said the strikes appeared to be the work of Syrian Presi- dent Bashar Assad's gov- ernment. They said the tar- get was the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a Sunni extremist group that seeks to carve out a purist Islamic enclave across both sides of the Syria-Iraq bor- der. "We've made it clear to everyone in the region that we don't need anything to take place that might ex- acerbate that sectarian di- visions that are already at a heightened level of ten- sion," Kerry said, speak- ing at a meeting of diplo- mats from NATO nations. "It's already important that nothing take place that contributes to the extrem- ism or could act as a flash point with respects to the sectarian divide." Kerry said Baghdad needs to take steps to en- sure that Iraq's military can defend the country without relying on outside forces. The U.S. is sending 300 military advisers. Nevertheless, the in- volvement of Syria and Iran in Iraq suggests a develop- ing Shiite axis among the three governments in re- sponse to the raging Sunni insurgency. And in an un- usual twist, the U.S., Iran and Syria now find them- selves with overlapping in- terests in stabilizing Iraq's government. U.S. officials believe the leadership in Baghdad should seek to draw Sunni support away from the mil- itants led by the Islamic State. The insurgency has drawn support from disaf- fected Iraqi Sunnis who are angry over perceived mis- treatment and random de- tentions by the Shiite-led government. Kerry said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appears to be standing by his commitment to start building a new govern- ment that fully represents its Shiite, Sunni and Kurd- ish population. But he said the U.S. is watching closely to make sure any new polit- ical process does not repeat past mistakes of excluding Iraq's minorities. On Wednesday, al-Ma- liki rejected calls for an interim "national salva- tion government" in his first public statement since President Barack Obama challenged him last week to create a more inclusive leadership or risk a sectar- ian civil war. Several politicians, in- cluding Ayad Allawi, a sec- ular Shiite who has been named as a possible con- tender to replace al-Maliki, have called on him to step down and form an interim government that could provide leadership until a more permanent solution can be found. Al-Maliki, however, in- sisted the political process must be allowed to proceed following recent national elections in which his bloc won the largest share of parliament seats. "The call to form a na- tional salvation govern- ment represents a coup against the constitution and the political process," he said. He added that "rebels against the consti- tution" — a thinly veiled reference to Sunni rivals — posed a more serious dan- ger to Iraq than the mili- tants. He called on "political forces" to close ranks in the face of the growing threat by insurgents, but took no concrete steps to meet U.S. demands for greater inclu- sion of minority Sunnis. Al-Maliki's coalition, the State of the Law, won the 92 seats of the 328-member parliament in the election. In office since 2006, al-Ma- liki needs the support of a simple majority to hold on to the job for another four- year term. The legislature is expected to meet before the end of the month, when it will elect a speaker. It has 30 days to elect a new pres- ident, who in turn will se- lect the leader of the ma- jority bloc in parliament to form the next government. Qaim, where the Syr- ian airstrikes took place, is located in the vast and mostly Sunni Anbar prov- ince. Its provincial govern- ment spokesman, Dhari al- Rishawi, told The Associ- ated Press on Tuesday that 17 people were killed in an air raid there. The White House said intervention by Syria was not the way to stem the in- surgents, who have taken control of several cities in northern and western Iraq. CONFLICT Kerryissueswarninga erSyriabombsIraq HUSSEINMALLA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Kurdish peshmerga fighters clean their weapons at a base on the front line with militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, in Tuz Khormato, 62miles south of the oil rich province of Kirkuk, northern Iraq, on Wednesday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Fighters of the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road Monday at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq, more than two weeks a er ISIL took over the country's second largest city. By Bashir Adigun The Associated Press ABUJA, NIGERIA An explo- sion blamed on Islamic ex- tremists rocked a shopping mall in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, and police said 21 people were killed. The blast came as Ni- gerians were preparing to watch their country's Super Eagles play Argentina at the World Cup in Brazil. Many shops at the mall have TV screens but it was unclear if the explosion was timed to coincide with the match, which started an hour later. Witnesses said body parts were scattered around the exit to Emab Plaza, in Abuja's upscale Wuse 2 suburb. One witness said he thought the bomb was dropped at the entrance to the mall by a motorcyclist. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of re- prisals. Soldiers shot and killed one suspect as he tried to escape on a power bike and police detained a second suspect, Mike Omeri, the government spokesman for the insurgency, said in a statement. Billows of black smoke could be seen from a mile (kilometer) away. "I heard the explosion and (felt) the building shak- ing," said Shuaibu Baba, who had a narrow escape. He said he rushed down- stairs to find that the driver who had dropped him a few minutes earlier was dead. "I asked the driver to come with me, and he said 'No,' he would wait for me in the car." Police Superintendent Frank Mba said 17 people were wounded and 21 bod- ies were recovered. Omeri urged people to be calm and said it was do- ing everything possible "to check the activities of insur- gents." It is the latest in a series of violent attacks blamed on Islamic extremists. Ni- gerian security forces ap- pear incapable of curtailing the near-daily attacks con- centrated in the northeast, where Boko Haram extrem- ists have their stronghold. On Tuesday night, ex- tremists in the northeast attacked a military check- point and killed at least 21 soldiers and five civilians, witnesses and a hospital worker said Wednesday. AFRICA Explosion rocks mall in Nigerian capital By Lori Hinnant The Associated Press PARIS One French court acquitted a doctor of poi- soning seven terminally ill patients while another ordered physicians to sus- pend treatment for a coma- tose man, while Britain's top court said the coun- try's ban on assisted sui- cide may be incompatible with human rights. The decisions of the past few days are fueling the argu- ments of Europeans who say the duty of doctors is to end the suffering of those beyond treatment. But emotions run high on all sides around the is- sue of euthanasia and as- sisted suicide, as is shown by the bitter case of the co- matose Frenchman, Vin- cent Lambert. Hours af- ter the French court sided with his wife in ordering an end to treatment, the European Court of Human Rights blocked the move at the request of his parents, in a rare late-night ruling. The prosecution in France of Dr. Nicolas Bonnemaison was rela- tively unusual as well. The physician never denied giving seven terminally ill patients lethal injections, and some of their families testified on his behalf. Bonnemaison's lawyer said he hoped Wednesday's acquittal — and Tuesday's ruling in the case of Lam- bert — would force the gov- ernment to update the law quickly. "There are no heroes here, no martyrs," said Benoit Ducos-Ader. "This man acted as a doctor. He always acknowledged that, shouted that, despite the blows he received." Euthanasia is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg for patients whose suf- fering is "unbearable." France's president has said he wants to make it eas- ier for some terminally ill patients to request medi- cal help to end their lives in the majority-Catholic country. Assisted suicide is illegal in Britain, although rarely prosecuted. Wednesday's ruling from the British Supreme Court was unex- pectedly far-reaching. Al- though it dismissed the ap- peal from two severely dis- abled men who argued the law should be changed to allow doctors to legally kill them, a majority of judges suggested that Parliament change the law to be in line with human rights guar- antees. "It's the strongest thing they could do" short of overturning the law, said Penney Lewis, a law pro- fessor at King's College in London. One of the men who brought the case, Paul Lamb, is paralyzed fol- lowing a car accident. The other, Tony Nicklinson, suffered from "locked- in syndrome" following a stroke. He died of pneumo- nia in 2012, but the case has been taken over by his widow. Lewis said the British case and the acquittal of Bonnemaison followed a trend of broadening legal acceptance for euthanasia and assisted suicide. "I think public opinion has been there a lot longer than the legal opinion," she said. POLICY BOB EDME — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Former Bayonne's hospital doctor Nicolas Bonnemaison arrives at the courthouse of Pau, southwestern France, on June 11for the first day of his trial on poisoning charges, for having given lethal injections to help seven terminally ill patients die. Europe euthanasia rulings sear debate THE ASSOCIATED PRESS People watch as smoke fills the sky a er an explosion at a shopping mall Wednesday in Abuja, Nigeria. By Lynn Berry The Associated Press MOSCOW The Kremlin on Wednesday renounced the right to send troops into Ukraine and voiced sup- port for a peace plan, but the West said Russia must do much more to stop the fighting in eastern Ukraine if it wants to avoid a new, more crippling round of sanctions. A cease-fire, already frag- ile, is set to expire Friday, the same day that Ukraine signs a pivotal economic agreement with the Euro- pean Union and the day that the EU and U.S. may consider further punitive measures against Russia. After months of up- heaval, this much is clear: The West appears to ac- cept that it can do nothing about Russia's annexation of Crimea, while Moscow seems resigned to Ukraine signing the sweeping trade pact that will bind the coun- try more closely to the EU. It was the former Ukrai- nian president's abrupt de- cision late last year to back out of the EU deal under pressure from Russia that triggered the current crisis. But much uncertainty still surrounds the future of eastern Ukraine, where government troops are battling armed Moscow- backed separatists. The cease-fire has been repeat- edly interrupted by fighting since it went into force last Friday. At Putin's request, the Russian parliament re- scinded a resolution that had empowered him to intervene militarily in Ukraine. Putin said his re- quest was intended to sup- port the peace process. U.S. and European gov- ernments welcomed the step but said it was not enough. "Now we believe it's crit- ical for President Putin to prove by his actions, not just his words, that he is indeed fully committed to peace," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a meeting of diplomats from NATO nations in Brussels. The same message was delivered by the German chancellor and the NATO chief. EASTERN EUROPE West to Putin: Prove commitment to Ukraine peace DMITRY LOVETSKY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Valentina grieves near a coffin of her daughter Rita, 46, on Wednesday. She was killed during a mortar attack from Ukrainian government forces Tuesday. THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 3 B