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Gunmen abduct 50 Iraqis; Bombing kills 9
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-09 19:35
Many of the dead in that period were Sunnis, killed at close range after
apparently being captured by overwhelming numbers of attackers. The nature of
the killings suggested that a well-armed and organized force carried out the
attacks.
There have also been repeated attacks against the Shiite-led security forces.
Interior Minister Bayan Jabr and one of his assistants may themselves have been
targets of assassination attempts Wednesday.
A bomb hidden under a parked car detonated as police from Jabr's protection
force were driving through Baghdad, killing two officers and wounding a third,
police said. Four bystanders were injured.
And gunmen attacked the convoy of Interior Ministry Undersecretary Hekmet
Moussa in west Baghdad, killing two bodyguards and injuring two others, police
said.
Neither Jabr nor Moussa were in the convoys.
The sectarian bloodshed has complicated Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim
al-Jaafari's bid for a second term. Al-Jaafari is opposed by a coalition of
Sunni Arab, Kurdish and secular Shiite politicians 锟斤拷 led by President Jalal
Talabani, a Kurd.
The president has openly challenged al-Jaafari's candidacy on grounds he is
too divisive and would be unable to form a government representing all Iraq's
religious and ethnic factions. There was also great unease over al-Jaafari's
close ties to radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
On Wednesday, Shiite Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi finally co-signed a
presidential decree to call parliament into session for the first time since the
Dec. 15 elections. The about-face appeared to break a political deadlock that
had blocked attempts to begin the process of forming the country's first
permanent, post-invasion government.
"He signed the decree today. I expect the first session to be held on Sunday
or by the end of next week at the latest," said Nadim al-Jabiri, head of one of
seven Shiite parties that make up the United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in
parliament.
At the same time, however, Abdul-Mahdi's change of heart signaled a
potentially dangerous and growing internal dispute among the country's majority
Shiite political factions over the nomination of al-Jaafari, who has been
criticized for not addressing Sunni complaints about the Interior Ministry.
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