Police said the casualties, all majority Shiites, appeared to be the latest victims of sectarian attacks by minority Sunni Arabs in Diyala province.

On Monday, al-Maliki was asked whether the surge in sectarian violence in Iraq, which has prompted thousands of Iraqis to flee their homes, constitutes civil war.

"There are rebellious elements. There are gangs killing people. There are gangs that have used arms for political blackmailing or to achieve goals that have political dimensions," he said. "But those groups have failed to ignite a civil war."

Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, meanwhile, said the gradual assumption of security duties by Iraqi forces is a good opportunity for insurgents to discuss their future roles with the Americans and British.

While he maintained that Iraqis have a legitimate right to resist coalition occupation, he also said insurgents, most of whom are believed to be Sunnis, should consider talking to the Americans and British since there are "real signs" those nations apparently are considering eventually withdrawing their forces.

"Such signals are enough to sit down and discuss the ways for withdrawing these forces and what the role of the national resistance would be after restoring the sovereignty," al-Hashimi said on Baghdad TV, which is owned by his Iraqi Islamic Party.

However, handing over security responsibilities to the Iraqis does not necessarily mean that significant numbers of U.S.-led forces will start returning home soon. Instead, plans call for them to move from cities to large coalition bases as part of an intermediate stage ¡ª where they will be on call if the Iraqis need them.

In another development, Jordan announced Monday the arrest of an unidentified al-Qaida in Iraq official who allegedly had participated in kidnappings and killings and robbed commercial trucks driving between Jordan and Iraq.

The suspect was an Arab, most likely from Iraq, where he was arrested, said Jordanian security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. In Baghdad, Lt. Col. Ali Rashid said Iraq's Interior Ministry had no information about the arrest and was not involved in the operation.