In the Sunni-dominated Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib,
emergency responders rushed to the scene of a blast outside the closed liquor
store at about 6 a.m. local time, only to be hit by a second bomb just minutes
later. Such follow-up attacks are one hallmark of Al-Qaeda.
Police officials say the second bomb instantly killed one
soldier and the firefighter died later at a hospital. They say five soldiers
and five firefighters also were wounded.
A hospital medic confirmed the casualties.
A few hours later, in the northern city of Mosul, an attack
wounded a retired general and former candidate for defense minister in what
police called the most recent assassination attempt on a prominent Iraqi.
Technology professor Khalid Mitaab Al-Obeidi was driving to
his office on the campus of the city’s university when he hit a roadside bomb.
Al-Obeidi was wounded in the face and leg, police said. His nephew, who serves
as his bodyguard, also suffered minor injuries.
All police and medical officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Dozens of government and political officials have been
targeted for assassination in recent months as extremists exploit Iraq’s
instability. Though violence has dropped dramatically across the country since
the tit-for-tat sectarian killings just a few years ago, deadly attacks still
occur daily.
Al-Obeidi, a Sunni, was a brigadier general and pilot in
Iraq’s army during Saddam Hussein’s regime. He recently withdrew as a contender
for the vacant post as Iraq’s defense minister after being nominated by the
secular but Sunni-backed Iraqiya political coalition, said Mosul lawmaker
Abdul-Rahim Al-Shammari.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki has been struggling to
fill the top posts at the defense and interior ministries, but political
bickering over candidates among political rivals has delayed the nomination in
the six months since Iraq’s new government was seated.
In turn, the delay has held up key negotiations between
Baghdad and Washington over whether thousands of US troops will remain in Iraq
past a year-end deadline that was set by a 2008 security agreement.
Representatives for each of Iraq’s main political parties
will meet Monday in another step to break the impasse.
