A boy stands near the site of a car bomb in Baghdad's Shaab District, after a series of attacks Thursday in the Iraqi capital killed dozens and wounded scores in worsening relations between the Shiite-led government and Sunni rivals.
More than 70 people were killed on Thursday in a wave of bombings across Baghdad as Iraq plunged towards unfettered sectarian conflict within days of the departure of American troops.
At least 15 separate blasts struck mostly Shiite neighbourhoods of the city, though some Sunni areas were also hit. The attacks ranged from "sticky bombs" - a bomb stuck to the side of a vehicle - to fully loaded car bombs, some doubled up to ensure emergency crews were caught by the second blast, a common tactic of Sunni insurgents.
Officials said that 72 people had been confirmed dead, and 217 injured, with the figures expected to rise.
Political leaders immediately connected the attacks to an angry break-down this week in the relationship between Nouri al-Maliki, the Shiite prime minister, and the country's most senior Sunni figures. Maliki, whose Shiite-led State of Law party is allied to a radical, anti-U.S. and Iranian-influenced Shiite group, on Mon-day demanded the arrest of Tareq al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice-president, accusing him of running a death squad during the height of the insurgency.
He also called for a vote of no confidence against Saleh al-Mutlaq, the Sunni deputy prime minister.
"The timing of these crimes and the places where they were carried out confirm to all the political nature of the targets," Maliki said on Thursday night in a statement, suggesting they were a revenge attack and hinting they had political support.
"The criminals and those who stand behind them will not succeed in changing events or the political pro-cess, or in escaping punishment."
The worst single incident was a suicide attack near a government anti-corruption office in which a stolen ambulance packed with explosives was detonated by its driver, sending debris into the grounds of a nearby kindergarten. Police said 23 people were killed, including five investigators from the office. A string of three explosions killed 18 people at a construction site in central Baghdad. The series of attacks was the most lethal since August and the second worst this year.
Maj.-Gen. Qassim Atta, the Baghdad security spokesman, said: "They didn't target any vital institutions or security positions. They targeted children's schools, day workers, the anti-corruption agency."
By agreement, the prime minister was to be Shiite, the president Kurdish and the vice-president Sunni. The irony of the Iraq war was that the minority Sunnis, who had most to lose from the fall of the Saddam Hussein, were left with the most to fear from the U.S. departure and the prime political position left to Shiite parties.
After the final pullout of American troops last week, Maliki moved quickly to assert control. Hashemi is now in hiding in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of the north and says the judicial system is not sufficiently free and fair for him to return to stand trial.
The warrant for his arrest triggered a walkout from parliament by the Sunni Iraqiya bloc, which won the single largest number of seats in the election - 91 to Maliki's 89 - but joined the unity government as a junior member to the Shiite coalition. al-Qaida is thought likely to be behind the attacks - a clearly well-designed and sophisticated operation - and are believed to be exploiting the political situation to foment further sectarian bloodshed.
Although there is little doubt that some Iraqi politicians have been associated with insurgent groups, direct responsibility is harder to prove. In some ways, the greatest beneficiary of Thursday's violence is Maliki him-self, whose stand against Sunni leaders appears to be vindicated.
Source:http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Baghdad+bombings+kill+least/5903744/story.html
At least 15 separate blasts struck mostly Shiite neighbourhoods of the city, though some Sunni areas were also hit. The attacks ranged from "sticky bombs" - a bomb stuck to the side of a vehicle - to fully loaded car bombs, some doubled up to ensure emergency crews were caught by the second blast, a common tactic of Sunni insurgents.
Officials said that 72 people had been confirmed dead, and 217 injured, with the figures expected to rise.
Political leaders immediately connected the attacks to an angry break-down this week in the relationship between Nouri al-Maliki, the Shiite prime minister, and the country's most senior Sunni figures. Maliki, whose Shiite-led State of Law party is allied to a radical, anti-U.S. and Iranian-influenced Shiite group, on Mon-day demanded the arrest of Tareq al-Hashemi, the Sunni vice-president, accusing him of running a death squad during the height of the insurgency.
He also called for a vote of no confidence against Saleh al-Mutlaq, the Sunni deputy prime minister.
"The timing of these crimes and the places where they were carried out confirm to all the political nature of the targets," Maliki said on Thursday night in a statement, suggesting they were a revenge attack and hinting they had political support.
"The criminals and those who stand behind them will not succeed in changing events or the political pro-cess, or in escaping punishment."
The worst single incident was a suicide attack near a government anti-corruption office in which a stolen ambulance packed with explosives was detonated by its driver, sending debris into the grounds of a nearby kindergarten. Police said 23 people were killed, including five investigators from the office. A string of three explosions killed 18 people at a construction site in central Baghdad. The series of attacks was the most lethal since August and the second worst this year.
Maj.-Gen. Qassim Atta, the Baghdad security spokesman, said: "They didn't target any vital institutions or security positions. They targeted children's schools, day workers, the anti-corruption agency."
By agreement, the prime minister was to be Shiite, the president Kurdish and the vice-president Sunni. The irony of the Iraq war was that the minority Sunnis, who had most to lose from the fall of the Saddam Hussein, were left with the most to fear from the U.S. departure and the prime political position left to Shiite parties.
After the final pullout of American troops last week, Maliki moved quickly to assert control. Hashemi is now in hiding in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of the north and says the judicial system is not sufficiently free and fair for him to return to stand trial.
The warrant for his arrest triggered a walkout from parliament by the Sunni Iraqiya bloc, which won the single largest number of seats in the election - 91 to Maliki's 89 - but joined the unity government as a junior member to the Shiite coalition. al-Qaida is thought likely to be behind the attacks - a clearly well-designed and sophisticated operation - and are believed to be exploiting the political situation to foment further sectarian bloodshed.
Although there is little doubt that some Iraqi politicians have been associated with insurgent groups, direct responsibility is harder to prove. In some ways, the greatest beneficiary of Thursday's violence is Maliki him-self, whose stand against Sunni leaders appears to be vindicated.
Source:http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Baghdad+bombings+kill+least/5903744/story.html
No comments:
Post a Comment