BAGHDAD, 9 May 2006 — Thirteen people were killed in rebel attacks yesterday as Iraqi leaders were holding last-minute talks to form a new government in the hope it will help curb raging sectarian bloodshed.
Five people died in a car bomb attack in Baghdad’s central Zawr Park and another five were killed in a mortar attack in central Baghdad’s Al-Tehran square, an interior ministry official said. Three Iraqis were shot dead in separate rebel attacks.
Against a backdrop of violence, representatives of the country’s parliamentary blocs met President Jalal Talabani to finalize the lineup of the first permanent government of the post-Saddam Hussein era, almost five months after a landmark election.
Although the details of yesterday’s political meeting were not known immediately, a source close to the negotiations said that prime minister designate Nuri Al-Maliki was expected to announce the new Cabinet soon. Following his nomination, Maliki had said he would form the Cabinet by May 10 and had pledged to appoint independent candidates to head the country’s important security posts. The leaders of the dominant Shiite United Iraqi Alliance were in a meeting yesterday to name its candidate for the crucial Interior Ministry, the source said.
The Shiite leaders were considering independent Shiite MP Qassem Daoud to head the Interior Ministry or retaining the controversial incumbent Bayan Jabr Solagh, the source said. Daoud has close links with former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Since the February bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in the northern town of Samarra, Iraq has been roiled by Shiite-Sunni tit for tat sectarian killings that has left hundreds dead. Bodies of brutally murdered men have been found scattered across Iraq in sectarian-related violence, while 35,000 civilians have died in violence related to Iraq’s Sunni-led insurgency since the end of the US-led 2003 invasion, according to some estimates.
Police yesterday recovered nine bodies, six in Baghdad, of men who had been tortured and killed in sectarian violence. Three bodies were found in the town of Al-Mahawil, south of Baghdad. The dead men were police commandos who were kidnapped a few days back from the town, police said. On Sunday, police had announced the discovery of 45 bullet-riddled bodies of men across Iraq.
The US military said yesterday it had killed wanted “terrorist” Ali Wali, a member of the mainly Kurdish Ansar Al-Islam militant group, in a Baghdad raid. The military said Ali Wali, whose full name was believed to be Abbas Bin Farnas Bin Qafqas, a known chemical expert, was killed during a raid in Baghdad’s upscale Mansour district on Saturday at 1 p.m. (0900 GMT).
