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Car bomb kills 22; Shiite Shrine bombed
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-22 15:03
Police Maj. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharawi said the bomb was detonated by remote
control and an Iraqi suspected of triggering the device had been arrested.
Claims of early arrests in bombing cases often prove premature.
Another policeman, 1st Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razaq, said the blast apparently was
aimed at a police patrol but missed its target, killing and maiming shoppers
strolling with their families along a street lined with appliance shops and
fruit and vegetable stalls.
It was the deadliest bombing in Baghdad since Jan. 19, when a suicide
attacker blew himself up in a coffee shop, killing 22 people and injuring 23.
The Dora bombing was the second major attack in as many days against a Shiite
target in the capital. Twelve people died Monday when a suicide bomber detonated
an explosives belt on a bus in the heavily Shiite district of Kazimiyah.
At least 969 Iraqis have been killed in war-related violence this year and at
least 986 have been wounded, according to an Associated Press count.
However, large-scale attacks against civilians have declined in recent weeks
amid widespread public criticism, including from Sunnis clerics and others
sympathetic to the Sunni-dominated insurgency.
Some Sunni insurgent groups are believed to be holding back to give Sunni
Arab politicians a chance to negotiate concessions from Shiites and Kurds during
talks on a new government.
However, talks among parties that won parliamentary seats in the Dec. 15
elections have bogged down because of fundamental differences among Shiite,
Sunni Arab and Kurdish politicians.
U.S. officials believe a government capable of winning the trust of all
communities is essential so the United States can hand over more security
responsibility to the Iraqis and begin sending the 138,000 American troops home
this year.
On Tuesday, Mohammed al-Askari, a Defense Ministry spokesman, confirmed that
Iraqi soldiers had detained 18 policemen who had seized two men for unknown
reasons. Al-Askari added that one of the men who were held captive by the 18 was
a police officer from the mostly Shiite southern city of Kut.
The Interior Ministry has denied running or sanctioning death squads. On
Thursday, however, the ministry announced an investigation into alleged death
squads after U.S. military officials announced the arrest last month of 22
policemen who were about to kill a Sunni Arab north of Baghdad.
Also Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw lent his voice to
international calls for a broad-based government, telling Iraqi leaders in
Baghdad that "no party, no ethnic or religious grouping can dominate" the next
government.
"It is a crucial moment today for the people of Iraq," Straw told reporters
after meeting President Jalal Talabani. "The international community,
particularly those of us who played a part in liberating Iraq, obviously have an
interest in a prosperous and stable and democratic Iraq."
Straw's comments followed a blunt warning Monday by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay
Khalilzad that Iraqis risk losing international support if key ministries end up
in the hands of politicians with ties to militias.
"We are not going to invest the resources of the American people and build
forces that are run by people who are sectarian" and tied to the militias,
Khalilzad said.
A coalition of Shiite Muslim religious parties won 130 of the 275 seats in
the new parliament, and Shiite leaders insist their strong showing in the
election gives them the right to control key ministries.
A Kurdish alliance won 53 seats and two Sunni Arab blocs together took 55
seats — a major increase over Sunni representation in the outgoing parliament.
Sunni Arabs have accused the Shiite-run Interior Ministry of kidnapping and
murdering Sunni civilians, a charge the ministry denies. Shiites and Kurds
dominate the army and police, while most of the insurgents are Sunni
Arabs.
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