BAGHDAD, 18 January 2007 — Bombs and mortars hit Kirkuk and Baghdad yesterday as the Iraqi government prepared to launch a security plan to stem violence as part of what has been billed as a “last chance” to head off civil war. In a sign the government is scrambling to meet political commitments, too, Iraq’s Oil Ministry spokesman said the Oil Committee, grouping senior national and regional leaders, had agreed a final draft of a crucial oil law that sets rules for sharing revenues and boosting output.
A day after one of the bloodiest days in weeks, a suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives killed 10 people at a police station in central Kirkuk.
Another bomb ripped through a market in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, killing 15 and wounding 33, police said. Sadr City is the Shiite stronghold of the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to Moqtada Al-Sadr.
Iraqis yesterday mourned the deaths of 70 people killed in twin bombings at a Baghdad university, as US President George W. Bush warned the botched hanging of Saddam Hussein made it harder to contain sectarian violence devastating the capital. Shocked and angry students staged a protest in the central Karada district demanding more protection for students and professors after Tuesday’s bombings at Mustansiriyah University in east Baghdad, which also left 138 people wounded.
Some held banners protesting the deadliest violent attack in the war-torn country this year, while others shouted slogans demanding that universities be protected. Police sealed off the renowned Mustansiriyah University campus as the education ministry ordered three days of mourning and told its institutions to conduct prayers for the victims.
Dozens of Iraqis were seen donating blood for the victims of the attack, which marked the deadliest bombings since a series of car bombs ripped through Baghdad’s Shiite bastion of Sadr City on Nov. 23, killing 202 people.
The double bombing came as university students, professors and other employees headed home at the end of the day, leaving corpses littered in the street and charred bodies in vehicles which had turned into fiery coffins.
In November, Sadr City was the scene of the deadliest single attack since the US invasion in 2003, when six coordinated car bombs killed at least 202 people. Police and residents in Kirkuk said several buildings had collapsed and, a police source said, there were “still people under the rubble.” One resident said he saw many casualties lying in the street and several buildings collapsed.
Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, a Shiite Islamist, blamed the Mustansiriyah University bombs on loyalists of ex-President Saddam Hussein, whose execution at the end of December fueled sectarian tension.
On Monday, United Nations said more than 34,000 Iraqi civilians died in violence last year. Several explosions, which police sources said were mortar rounds, went off yesterday in the Haifa Street area of central Baghdad, where US and Iraqi forces staged an offensive against Sunni rebels last week. There were no details on casualties.
Sunni Arabs are also angry at the botched execution of two Saddam aides on Monday, two weeks after Saddam was hanged while official observers taunted him and invoked Sadr’s name. Among the coverage of reaction to the latest executions was widely played footage of interviews with students at Mustansiriyah who were celebrating the hangings. The Iraqi government is preparing a crackdown in Baghdad, involving Iraqi and some 20,000 American reinforcements.
Many in the violence-wracked capital had been expecting a major attack in the wake of the Dec. 30 botched execution of Saddam Hussein, who was taunted by a guard, allegedly a Shiite, in his final moments. The Sunni sentiment were further affected by the hanging of two Saddam aides on Monday, in which one was decapitated during the hanging process.
On Tuesday, US President George W. Bush told PBS television in an interview that Saddam’s execution had looked like a “revenge killing.” “When it came to execute him (Saddam), it looked like it was kind of a revenge killing. And it sent a mixed signal to the American people and the people around the world,” he said.
Bush said the execution “reinforced doubts” about Maliki’s desire to quell the violence and about whether “the unity government of Iraq is a serious government.” Bush strongly defended his plan to dispatch more troops to Iraq to stabilize Baghdad.
“A year ago, I felt pretty good about the situation,” Bush told PBS. “I felt like we were achieving our objective, which is a country that can govern, sustain and defend itself. No question, 2006 was a lousy year for Iraq.” But he said he was doing his “very best to explain to people why success is vital,” and that pulling out to leave the Iraqis to settle their business would be “disastrous” for the United States.
The US military, meanwhile, said its troops arrested 28 militants in several raids across Iraq yesterday, including a senior “Al-Qaeda explosive coordinator and weapons dealer in Mosul.” At the same time, more rebel attacks were reported. A roadside bomb attack in central Baghdad killed one soldier and wounded two others from the Facility Protection Service, a specialized unit guarding ministry buildings and institutions, a security source said.
