BAGHDAD, 19 May 2006 — More than 25 Iraqis were killed in violence across the country yesterday amid last-minute political dealings on key security portfolios ahead of this weekend’s expected unveiling of a new cabinet.
Four US soldiers and an interpreter were also killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb northwest of the capital, the US military said.
In the deadliest attacks, a car bomb in a busy commercial street in the capital’s central Waziriyah neighborhood killed at least seven people and set security vehicles ablaze.
And seven people from the same family died in a drive-by shooting of a minibus, part of a wave of violence that has underscored the need for a permanent government and strong leadership in the defense and interior ministries.
Although prime minister-designate Nuri Al-Maliki said Wednesday he would submit his cabinet line-up for approval by Parliament tomorrow, political groups have shown continuing discord. New names for the coveted security ministries were being floated just four days ahead of a constitutional deadline for the cabinet’s formation.
In other violence, four policemen were killed in clashes in Fallujah. In Ramadi, the hospital reported two dead in clashes between insurgents and US forces. In Kirkuk, gunmen shot dead a local leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Nejmeddin Abdullah. In the same city, four men murdered a teacher and a student from a technical school.
