BAGHDAD, 21 December 2004 — Iraq’s Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned yesterday that insurgents were trying to foment a sectarian war in the country, as thousands of mourners attended funerals in the Shiite cities of Najaf and Kerbala a day after car bomb attacks killed 67 people.
Allawi said the mainly Sunni insurgents, blamed for the deadly strikes Sunday against Iraq’s majority Shiites, want to “create ethnic and religious tensions, problems and conflicts ... to destroy the unity of this country.”
“These attacks are designed to stop the political process from taking place in Iraq,” Allawi told reporters.
He added that he expected more such strikes as key Jan. 30 parliamentary elections get closer.
Illustrating continuing tensions in the region, a bomb exploded at a police checkpoint in Kerbala yesterday, causing damage to surrounding buildings but inflicting no casualties. Police said they cordoned off the area and arrested the attacker.
Shiites, who make up around 60 percent of Iraq’s population, have been strong supporters of the upcoming electoral process, which they expect will reverse the longtime domination of Iraq by the Sunni minority, the country’s other main religious sect. The insurgency is believed to have been fomented by Sunnis, who made up the majority of Saddam Hussein’s former Baath Party leadership.
Shiite officials and clerics blamed the Najaf and Kerbala bombings — the worst carnage in Iraq since July — on Sunni insurgents wanting to ignite a sectarian war. The strikes appeared designed to cause massive casualties and eventual reprisals by the Shiites against Sunnis.
“We always have said that we are going to fight and defeat terrorism,” Allawi said. “We are going to win definitely and the political process would continue in Iraq.”
Najaf police chief Ghalib Al-Jazaari said that 50 people were arrested yesterday in connection with the bombings. They included “elements” who had confessed to having links with the intelligence services of neighboring Syria and Iran, he claimed.
Iraq’s Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan has accused both Iran and Syria of supporting terrorism in Iraq, although Allawi yesterday dismissed the allegations saying they did not reflect the government’s position.
The deadly strikes on Sunday — against a funeral procession in Najaf and at a packed bus station in Kerbala — once again highlighted the capability of the guerrillas to inflict massive casualties.
They also have undermined confidence in repeated claims by US military commanders that their successful campaign last month to retake the town of Fallujah had dealt a serious blow to the rebellion.
Meanwhile, the head of Iraq’s national electoral commission appealed to security forces to safeguard his officials after three of them were shot to death in a particularly audacious attack Sunday by dozens of guerrillas operating openly on the Haifa Street in the heart of Baghdad. The ambush was the latest attack to target Iraqi officials working to organize the vote.
“We send an appeal to the Iraqi government and all the people to protect our employees,” Abdul Hussein Al-Hindawi said. “We have no real protection because we work everywhere in the country and have more than 6,000 employees.”
— With input from agencies
