European Union leaders were drawing up a surprise joint statement on Iraq on Wednesday after the bloc's four members of the current United Nations Security Council agreed on future policies for Iraq, EU diplomats said. The informal EU summit that opened in Athens earlier in the day had not planned a statement because of the split between pro-war Security Council members Britain and Spain and anti-war countries France and Germany, the EU diplomats recalled.

But the four have now agreed on a two-part statement calling for an "important" or "essential" role for the United Nations in rebuilding post-war Iraq and EU help to stabilize the country after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein , they said.

The statement, which the Greek presidency would distribute among all 15 EU members for approval, reflected the efforts the divided leaders have made in recent days to overcome the bitter splits that dogged them before and during the U.S.-led assault.

Key Developments in the War Against Iraq

Key developments in the war in Iraq :

_U.S. special forces raided the Baghdad home of microbiologist Rihab Taha, nicknamed "Dr. Germ," who ran Iraq's secret biological laboratory. Troops brought out boxes of documents and three men with their hands up. Taha's whereabouts weren't immediately known

_ Looters defied the launch of joint U.S.-Iraqi police patrols and ransacked food from a major Baghdad warehouse complex Wednesday. Elsewhere in the city, residents went shopping or sat in cafes, signs that life was slowly returning to normal.

_ A Marine patrol passing the Iraqi National Bank caught armed robbers and recovered 3.6 dlrs million in U.S. currency. Other Marines conducted raids, sometimes accompanied by Iraqi police, to secure infrastructure sites

_ Iraqis from a number of different factions - exiles, Shiites, Sunnis, tribal leaders - began discussions Tuesday in the ancient city of Ur on the shape of a future government. They agreed that Iraq should be democratic and will meet again in 10 days.

_ U.S. officials announced that Abul Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner Achille Lauro in 1985, had been captured in a commando raid in Baghdad.

_ The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, warned that Iraqi chemical or biological weapons could still fall into the hands of terrorists.

_ In northern Iraq, U.S. officers tried to determine details of an armed confrontation in the city of Mosul in which 10 people were reportedly killed. The New York Times quoted Iraqis as saying Marines fired into a crowd of civilians, but Navy Capt.

Frank Thorp, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said that was not true.

_ Ali Ismaeel Abbas, a 12-year-old boy who lost both his arms in a missile explosion and became a symbol of Iraqi war suffering, arrived at a hospital in Kuwait City.

_ U.S. officials say the seven American POWs rescued Sunday in Iraq are now inseparable and want to stay together as they undergo medical treatment in Kuwait. No word yet on when any of them might go home.

PHOTO CAPTION

National flags of some of the 10 acceding countries are seen below the Parthenon at the EU summit in Athens April 16, 2003. The Athens summit discussions are what many see as a possible kiss-and-make-up meeting for EU states after bitter differences over the war in Iraq . (Toby Melville/Reuters)