Bloody start for Iraqi govt
2005-04-29 10:47
Baghdad - A string of car bombings killed at least 19 Iraqis and wounded more than 70 in the Baghdad region on Friday, as insurgents stepped up attacks after the formation of Iraq's first democratically elected government.
At least nine car bomb attacks targeted Iraq's new security forces, an interior ministry official said.
The attacks came a day after parliament voted in the new government of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, with several key seats left vacant.
Thirteen people died, including seven soldiers and two policemen, and 50 were wounded, including 13 soldiers and two policemen, in four apparently co-ordinated car bomb attacks in two districts of the capital at about 08:00, the official said.
Dozens of explosions rocked the city in the northern district of Adhamiya and insurgents fired mortar shells into the area, adding to the chaos.
Five died, including a policeman and two interior ministry commandos, and 14, mostly security forces, were wounded when three more car bombs exploded in Madain, a town 30km south of the capital that was swept only 10 days ago by the Iraqi army in search of insurgents.
An Iraqi soldier was killed and three injured by an eighth car bomb which exploded next to an army convoy in an eastern district of the capital at around 10:30, security officials said.
An hour after that attack, four policemen were wounded in yet another car bomb blast some 300m away.
The latest wave of attacks kicked off at 07:30, when a bomb exploded just after a US convoy had driven by in the southern Dura district.
Adding to the violence, a militant group linked to al-Qaeda claimed on Thursday in an internet video that it had executed six Sudanese drivers dealing with the US military in Iraq.
Insurgents have stepped up attacks in recent days, as politicians haggled over key posts of the country's first democratically elected government.
Jaafari said Thursday that a deal had been reached, but only announced a partial line-up that was approved by parliament but frustrated the Sunni Arab community.
In the new government, several key posts, including the oil and defence portfolios, have yet to be allocated. The premier insisted, however, that all major hurdles had been cleared and that a full 37-member cabinet list would be presented within days.
Vice President Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni tribal leader, threatened that Sunni ministers would step down if Jaafari did not attribute more portfolios to the minority community within two days.
United States President George W Bush said he was confident the new cabinet would " represent the unity and diversity of Iraq in the months ahead".
Bush said he urged Jaafari, a leader of the majority Shiite, to reach out to disaffected groups in Iraq and to stick to the August 15 deadline for drafting a new constitution.
- AFP