EIGHT EXPLOSIONS yesterday brought down seven buildings in three Baghdad neighbourhoods and devastated a popular restaurant and a market, killing at least 49 people and wounding 160.
While some of the devices were delivered by vehicles, others had been planted in shops and flats rented by perpetrators. The bombers targeted mainly Shia residential areas where the populace is loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose faction took 40 of the 70 seats in the 325-member assembly won by the Shia fundamentalist Iraqi National Alliance coalition in the March 7th parliamentary election.
Some analysts argue that by targeting Sadrist strongholds, the bombers, assumed to be Sunni extremists, are trying to goad the disbanded but not disarmed Sadrist Mahdi Army militia into retaliating by attacking Sunnis, thereby reigniting the sectarian strife that gripped the country during 2006 and 2007.
However, it could be significant that yesterday’s strikes followed statements by the Sadrists and their main coalition partner, the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, that they would not support the formation of any government that excluded the secular Iraqiya bloc led by former premier Iyad Allawi, which won 91 seats, the largest number, in the parliamentary poll.
Incumbent prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose State of Law bloc came in second with 89 seats, and Tehran both oppose Mr Allawi’s inclusion in the new government.
According to Iraq’s 2005 constitution, Mr Allawi should be the first to be asked to form a government, but Mr Maliki is contesting this right.
Yesterday’s explosions took place two days after co-ordinated suicide bombings killed 41 outside five foreign missions and a security office in west and central Baghdad.
The death toll from the round of bombings now stands at 114, with at least 360 wounded. On Monday, six members of a Shia family were shot dead south of the capital, while late on Friday two dozen Sunnis were slain by gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms.
Mr Allawi blamed political deadlock for the attacks and predicted it could be months before a government is formed. He said the culprits are “powers who want to obstruct the path of democracy”.
