Perilous Times
Iraq has suffered its worst day of violence this year,
leaving 102 people dead, in a series of coordinated attacks.
By Richard Spencer in Dubai
Published: 8:41PM BST 10 May 2010
Residents remove the remains of a car bomb from the site of the bomb
attack in Hilla.
The worst incident was a double car-bombing that hit a factory car park
in the largely Shia town of Hilla Photo: REUTERS
A series of coordinated shootings was followed by a string of bombings
around the country. In one case, a suicide attacker struck at the scene
of an earlier double car-bombing, killing survivors, bystanders and
emergency crews who had gathered at the scene.
In all 102 people were killed, the most in any day this year. The
violence bore the hallmarks of the insurgency that continues to be
waged by predominantly Sunni groups allied to either al-Qaeda or to the
former Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein.
Sunnis are angry that the apparent victory of their favoured party in
the March elections, the Iraqiya National Movement, has failed to
translate into political power.
Iraqiya beat the largely Shia State of Law party of the incumbent prime
minister, Nouri al-Maliki, but he has stayed in office while he tries
to put together a workable coalition.
The attacks began with a series of carefully timed shootings at six
police and army checkpoints across Baghdad. Seven members of the
security forces were killed.
There then followed a string of bombings in Baghdad, Fallujah, a
militant Sunni stronghold west of the capital, the northern city of
Mosul, one of the worst hit by sectarian violence since the 2003
invasion, and other towns.
A bomb near a mosque in the town of Suwayrah, 40 miles south of
Baghdad, killed 11 and injured 70, according to police.
The worst incident was a double car-bombing that hit a factory car park
in the largely Shia town of Hilla, also south of Baghdad, just as
workers were leaving. An hour later, a man detonated a suicide
explosive belt as emergency workers and doctors were tending to the
injured.
Altogether, 36 people were killed and 140 wounded there.
There has been regular violence since the election, though not the
upsurge that many feared.
However, politicians close to the Iraqiya leader, Ayad Allawi, have
warned that there could be a backlash if Mr Maliki goes ahead with a
planned coalition of Shia parties to hold on to power and excludes
their grouping from government.
Iraqiya gained two more seats than Mr Maliki's State of Law party,
though neither came anywhere near an outright majority.