left at least 69 people dead from the north to the south, intensifying
fears of a possible surge of violence coinciding with the drawdown of
U.S troops.
West of
In the southern city of
health officials raised to 43 the death toll in a triple explosion in a
busy marketplace Saturday night, and police confirmed the bloodshed was
caused by at least one bomb, which may have triggered the other blasts.
It was the second time in a week that a normally quiet southern city
had been targeted.
In the northern city of
escaped an assassination attempt when two bombs targeted his motorcade.
Najafi is a key supporter of the mostly Sunni Arab bloc led by former
Prime Minister
An additional 14 people died and scores were injured
in more than a dozen other bombings and shootings over the weekend.
Most of the incidents were minor; nonetheless, they indicated an
increased frequency of attacks that has raised fears the insurgency is
gearing up for a comeback as U.S. troops withdraw.
A U.S. soldier was reported killed in the southern
province of Babil, a relatively rare event as the Americans hand over
security responsibility to Iraqi forces ahead of their drawdown to
50,000 troops and the formal end of the combat mission. The U.S.
military did not say how the soldier died.
Speaking on
“I believe there will be people who attempt to take advantage of the opportunity of the attention being brought upon the
Many Iraqis attribute the recent violence to the
political gridlock that has failed to produce a new government more
than five months after national elections in March, contributing to
tensions on the streets. No faction won a clear majority, leaving each
seeking coalition partners.
The fortunes of Prime Minister
Though Barzani stopped short of throwing Kurdish
support behind Maliki, it was the first time a leading politician
outside Maliki’s bloc had endorsed the prime minister’s bid to hold on
to his job. Maliki returned the favor by pledging to support a cause
central to Kurdish concerns: the implementation of a constitutional
clause that Kurds hope will lead to the incorporation of the disputed
city of
Collectively, Kurds won 57 of the 325 seats in
parliament, putting them a distant fourth among political coalitions.
But their votes could be crucial in determining the outcome of the
finely balanced contest to lead the next government. Maliki’s efforts
have been blocked by Shiite Muslim opposition to his candidacy. The
bloc headed by his chief rival, Allawi, won the most seats, 91 compared
with 89 for Maliki’s group, but Allawi has also failed to secure any
support for his bid to be prime minister, leaving the process
deadlocked.
Odierno said he was not unduly concerned that there
probably would not be a government in place by the time the scheduled
drawdown is complete, because the timetable is linked to the abilities
of the Iraqi security forces.
“Our numbers are not linked to the formation of the
government,” he said. “Our numbers are linked to the capacity of the
Iraqi security forces being able to sustain stability. And I think they
are moving toward that capacity.”
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