BAGHDAD, 19 April 2006 — Iraq rebels staged fresh bomb attacks yesterday and battled US forces in a wave of violence that has seen the US military suffer one of its deadliest months since the 2003 invasion, as the country’s protracted power vacuum dragged on. Bickering politicians warned that talks on forming a government of national unity that have already dragged on four months could take another month amid new differences between rival factions.
Six people were killed in attacks yesterday, including four in a roadside bombing near a restaurant in north Baghdad. Iraqi troops, meanwhile, launched a massive search operation in Baghdad’s Sunni district of Adhamiyah after fierce exchanges with insurgents Monday. Five rebels were killed and seven captured in the seven-hour firefight but dozens more were believed to have melted away, the US military said.
US troops also came under massive attack in the western city of Ramadi on Monday, with several car bombs being driven at the heavily fortified government building that houses a marine base and provincial government offices. The Marines came under fire from a nearby mosque, the military said, adding that it was the fourth time in a month that the place of worship had been abused by the rebels.
Nearly 50 US troops have been killed across Iraq since April 1, marking one of the bloodiest periods for the military since the invasion. US leaders have made clear they believe the protracted power vacuum is fueling the violence and have repeatedly demanded greater sense of urgency from Iraqi politicians.
But with new divisions emerging over the distribution of posts in a national unity government, this time between previously allied Sunnis and secularists, politicians warned it was likely to be another month before consensus emerged. “There are still many differences within the groups and I think we need at least a month to form the government,” said Zhafer Al-Ani, spokesman for the main Sunni Arab bloc, the National Concord Front.
Ani insisted that the ousted Sunni Arab elite, which dominated Saddam Hussein’s government and all previous Iraq regimes, would not stand in the way of the formation of a national unity government. But he rejected calls by the secularist faction of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to be given one of the two posts of vice president, a position currently held by a Sunni. “There is another problem. Allawi wants the post of vice president which is ours,” he said.
A senior official from Allawi’s faction, which has 25 MPs in the 275-seat Parliament against 44 for the National Concord Front, confirmed their demand. “Allawi is our candidate for the vice president and we will also announce a candidate for the deputy prime minister’s post once the prime minister is fixed by the Shiite alliance,” Rassim Al-Awadi told AFP.
