Bombs rock Baghdad, killing 70, as unity government crumbles
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bombs rock Baghdad, killing 70, as unity government crumbles*
AFP - Wednesday, August 1
BAGHDAD (AFP) - - Thunderous car bomb blasts echoed around Baghdad on
Wednesday, killing at least 70 people, as Iraq's national unity
coalition collapsed under the weight of sectarian tensions.
New government figures also revealed civilian deaths in the country rose
by one third last month, dealing a further blow to a five-month-old
security plan designed to stabilise Baghdad and allow for reconciliation.
Three large bombs tore through crowded districts of the capital, leaving
at least 70 people dead and feeding the communal bitterness that has
undermined Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's US-backed government.
In the largest blast, a truck bomb detonated near a filling station in
the west of the city, setting fire to a huge fuel tank, killing at least
50 people and wounding at least 60 more, Iraqi security officials said.
A medic at the nearby Yarmuk Hospital said the emergency room struggled
to cope with the wave of incoming wounded.
"There were not many lightly injured people, everyone had medium or
severe burns. Some of them got beds, but others had to lie on the floor
and some were given first aid then sent on to other hospitals," he said.
Earlier a car bomb ripped through a busy shopping district, killing at
least 16 Iraqis and wounding 14, according to Brigadier General Qassim
Atta, an Iraqi army spokesman for Baghdad.
The blast near the Karrada Harij electronics market at a crossroads
known for the popular Al-Fiqma ice cream store sent a dull boom echoing
across the city and a plume of smoke skywards.
There was no word on who might have planted the bomb, but the area is
known as a stronghold of supporters of Shiite leader Abdel Aziz
al-Hakim, and previous attacks of this kind have been blamed on Sunni
extremists.
A third car bomb in the southern neighbourhood of Dura, one of Baghdad's
most notorious districts, killed three more people and wounded another
five, according to security officials.
Two off-duty Iraqi policemen were shot dead when gunmen ambushed their
car in the Al-Saydiya neighbourhood in southwest Baghdad, a security
official said.
As the explosions rumbled across the city, ministers from the Concord
Front, Iraq's largest Sunni bloc, resigned from the ruling coalition and
effectively ended its claim to be a government of national unity.
"The Front announces its withdrawal from the government of Nuri
al-Maliki and the deputy prime minister and the ministers will submit
their resignation today," said Rafie al-Issawi, minister of state for
foreign affairs.
Issawi made the announcement at a news conference inside Baghdad's
heavily fortified Green Zone as Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi
and other senior members of the bloc stood behind him.
Hashemi will remain vice president and the bloc's 44 parliamentarians
will return to the National Assembly in September after its summer
recess, when they will swell the already growing ranks of the opposition.
The Front has accused the government of failing to rein in Shiite
militias and of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Sunnis, but on
Wednesday leaders seemed to leave the door open for future discussions.
"Our central and historic goal is reform. We will reconsider the
withdrawal tomorrow if they review our demands," Hashemi said.
The decision comes at a time when Maliki's government is under intense
pressure to make use of the space afforded by a five-month-old "surge"
of US troops to hammer out political agreements between the rival factions.
But with parliament having gone on holiday without passing any of the
benchmark reforms demanded by Washington, it is unlikely any progress
will be made ahead of September's progress report to the US Congress on
the surge.
"Democracy is never easy," US embassy spokesman Philip Reeker told
reporters. "It is certainly not easy with the problems that face Iraq.
These are things that Iraqi political leaders need to grapple with."
"In Iraq it's very hard ... They have to get through these very
difficult challenges. It is frustrating? Absolutely. It's frustrating
for us. It's frustrating for them and it's frustrating for the Iraqi
government."
In a further blow to the surge, numbers released by government
ministries on Wednesday revealed that the number of Iraqi civilians
killed in the country's brutal civil conflict rose by more than a third
in July.
At least 1,652 civilians were killed in Iraq in July, 33 percent more
than in the previous month, according to figures compiled by the Iraqi
health, defence and interior ministries and made available to AFP.
Meanwhile, the US military said four more troops were killed on Tuesday,
bringing US losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,653, with 83
killed in July, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
Separately, Britain confirmed that another of its soldiers had been
killed by a bomb in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, bringing to
164 the number to have died in Iraq.