SUICIDE BOMBERS targeted three embassies in Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 36 people and wounding more than 200.
The near simultaneous strikes took place at the Iranian, Egyptian and German embassies in the western diplomatic quarter of Mansour. The nearby Spanish and Syrian embassies were damaged.
A fourth man was shot and wounded in the central Karrada district by security guards before he could detonate his bomb-laden minivan near offices of the government service providing embassy security. Bomb disposal experts defused the device. Al-Qaeda has been blamed for the attacks.
Earlier in the day a bomb beneath a parked car killed a suspected bomber and wounded nine. Overnight, mortars were fired into the fortified Green Zone where the US embassy, legislative chambers and government offices are located. Two people were also killed by a roadside bomb near the northern city of Mosul, which is caught up in a bitter power struggle between Arabs and Kurds that has forced thousands of local Christians to flee for their lives.
The violence took place 36 hours after a group of gunmen dressed in uniforms worn by Iraqi and US forces entered the Sunni village of Abu-Saifi, south of Baghdad, and went from house to house, calling out the names of residents and executing them either with shots to the head or by cutting their throats.
Among the victims were 19 men, four women and two girls. The men were members of the Sunni Awakening Councils that joined US troops in the battle against al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia. Although al-Qaeda has been accused of these killings, villagers said the systematic way the gunmen went about their task was reminiscent of the modus operandi adopted by Shia death squads during the 2006-2007 spate of sectarian killings.
Many Iraqis have expressed concern that political uncertainty created by the close, contested result of the March 7th election could prompt elements seeking to destabilise the country to step up attacks, with the aim of undermining Iraqi civilian morale by creating the impression that nothing can be done to ensure security.
Meanwhile, political factions continue to vie for vantage in the drive to be first to form a government before parliament sits in June. While the secular Iraqiya bloc of former premier Iyad Allawi won 91 seats in the 325-member assembly, his right to form a cabinet is challenged by incumbent Nuri al-Maliki and his moderate Shia sectarian State of Law bloc, with 89 seats.
Yesterday, envoys from the movement loyal to radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr paid a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia, which backs Mr Allawi. On Friday and Saturday, the Sadrists, now the largest Shia fundamentalist faction, conducted an informal referendum in areas where the movement is strong. The five candidates on the ballot were Mr Allawi, Mr Maliki, Shia vice-president Adel Abdel Mahdi, former premier Ibrahim Jaafari, and Jaafar al-Sadr, son of the revered Shia cleric. By asking constituents to choose a premier, the Sadrists seek to alleviate pressure from Tehran to support Mr Maliki, who in 2008 ordered US and Iraqi forces to crush the Sadrist militia in Baghdad and the south.
The Sadrists’ partner, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), also eager of find an alternative to Mr Maliki, has said it will not join a government unless Mr Allawi’s bloc is included. Mr Maliki is unlikely to agree, and his prospects seem poor at present. Without the Sadrists and SIIC, which have 70 seats, he cannot form a government.
