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29 March 2024

Bombs kill 10 as Iraq mired in political crisis

Published
By AFP

A spate of attacks in Baghdad Thursday killed 10 people as Iraq faced a political crisis, with its vice president accused of running death squads and the premier warning he could break off power-sharing.

The blasts, which left dozens of people wounded, were the first major sign of violence in a crisis that has threatened the country's fragile political truce and heightened sectarian tensions.

A medical official at a Baghdad hospital put the toll from as many as eight separate bomb attacks in the centre, south, north and east of the capital at 10 killed and 25 wounded. An interior ministry official said 10 people died and 63 were wounded.

The attacks largely coincided with the morning rush hour, and security forces cordoned off bomb sites, AFP correspondents and officials said.

They struck in the Allawi, Bab al-Muatham and Karrada districts of central Baghdad, the Adhamiyah, Shuala and Shaab neighbourhoods in the north, Jadriyah in the east and Al-Amil in the south, the officials said.

The violence comes with Iraqi politicians at loggerheads over a warrant issued for the arrest of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanding that Kurdish authorities hand over the Sunni Arab leader, who is holed up in their autonomous region. Hashemi denies the charges.

Maliki has also called for his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlak, who belongs to the same Iraqiya bloc as Hashemi, to be sacked after he described the Shiite-led government as a "dictatorship".

Iraqiya, meanwhile, has boycotted parliament and the cabinet, and Maliki has threatened to replace their ministers in the year-old unity government.

Washington has urged calm, with the crisis coming just days after US troops completed their withdrawal, leaving behind what US President Barack Obama had described as a "sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq."

At a news conference in Baghdad on Wednesday, Maliki called for Kurdish officials to transfer Hashemi, and insisted: "We gave the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein a fair trial, and we will ensure that a fair trial will also be given to Hashemi."

He also warned the Iraqiya bloc that he would replace its nine cabinet ministers if they continued to boycott government sessions.

"If we don't succeed in reaching an agreement, we will move towards forming a majority government," in place of the current national unity administration, Maliki said.

Hashemi has denied the terror charges against him after a warrant was issued for his arrest on Monday, and insisted he is willing to face trial on condition that it be held in the autonomous Kurdish region.

He has added that apparent confessions aired on state television linking him to attacks were "false" and "politicised." His office has complained of "intentional harassment."

Maliki and other leaders have called for talks to resolve the crisis, but the premier's spokesman told AFP he would not accept any mediation over the charges against Hashemi.

Violence is down from its peak in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 187 people were killed in violence in November, according to official figures.