A string of coordinated bomb attacks killed at least 10 Iraqis and wounded 30 on Friday in Baghdad, as insurgents showed no sign of letting up after an agreement was reached on a partial Cabinet line-up.
At least four of the blasts that rocked the capital at around 8am were car bombs aimed at Iraqi security forces, an interior ministry official told the French news agency AFP.
”Ten people, two of them policemen, were killed and 30 others wounded, seven soldiers, two policemen and 21 civilians,” he said.
Two of the car bombs went off in the northern Sunni neighbourhood of Adhamiyah. An AFP correspondent saw several destroyed cars and a blazing police vehicle as security cordoned off the area.
Another two blasts rocked the eastern district of Saligh, the official said.
Several mortar shells also exploded around the same time on Friday in other neighbourhoods, including the restive Haifa street district and the southern area of Dura, security sources said.
At least 21 Iraqis were killed on Thursday, in ambushes, bomb attacks and clashes in Baghdad and in Sunni areas north and west of the capital.
In a video posted on the internet, a militant group linked to al-Qaeda claimed it executed six Sudanese drivers dealing with the United States military in Iraq.
The US military also announced that one of its troops was killed on Thursday by the explosion of a home-made bomb in the northern Iraqi town of Hawija.
”One Task Force Liberty soldier was killed and four were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated near Hawija,” a statement said.
The insurgency had stepped up its attacks in recent days, as politicians were haggling over the formation of their first democratically elected government.
Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari said Thursday that a deal had been reached, but only announced a partial line-up that angered 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.
”Today, we face the huge task of trying to reach the stage of elections,” Jaafari said, referring to new legislative polls scheduled for December.
But Vice President Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni tribal leader, expressed frustration that some ministries were left vacant and warned that Sunni ministers could step down if his minority community did not obtain more posts.
”We don’t have a government now in Iraq and we need a government badly,” said Yawar, giving Jaafari two days to fill the remaining posts and attribute more portfolios to the minority Sunni Arabs.
The Cabinet should consist of Jaafari, four deputy premiers representing each of the main ethnic and religious communities, and 32 ministers.
It should also eventually include seven women and will run the country until elections planned for December.
The announcement of the line-up, which came as deposed dictator Saddam Hussein marked his 68th birthday behind US bars, was hailed by the international community as an important step in Iraq’s democratic process.
US President George Bush was confident the new Cabinet ”will represent the unity and diversity of Iraq in the months ahead.”
Bush also said US-led forces still face a stubborn insurgency run by ”hard-nosed killers,” while stating they were making ”really good progress” in Iraq.
His upbeat comments late on Thursday came two days after the top US general said US forces were winning in Iraq but acknowledged that insurgents remained as capable as they were a year ago.
The US army also announced it had sentenced to death a sergeant who killed two fellow soldiers in a grenade attack at a US military camp in Kuwait at the beginning of the war more than two years ago.
French officials also said Thursday that five suspected Islamic militants had been detained in France by intelligence agents who believe they were part of an operation to send volunteers to fight against the US army in Iraq. – Sapa-AFP