Maliki Vows ‘Bombers’ Will Not Impact Political Process
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed on Thursday that the bombers would not be allowed to have any impact on the political process, after a wave of attacks in Baghdad that killed 57 people.
"The timing of these crimes and their locations confirm once again to any doubters the political nature of the goals that those criminals want to achieve," Maliki said in a statement.
"The criminals and those who stand behind them will not succeed in changing events or the political process, or in escaping punishment."
Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi condemned attacks, which he said "threaten national unity."
The Parliament called an urgent meeting of political leaders for Friday, the Muslim day of prayer and rest.
The Baghdad attacks, the deadliest in more than four months, mostly targeted Shiite neighborhoods and coincided with the morning rush hour. Security forces quickly cordoned off bomb sites, Agence France Presse correspondents and officials said.
Health ministry spokesman Ziad Tariq put the toll at 57 dead and 176 wounded in 10 attacks. An interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 63 people were killed and 185 wounded.
Thursday's violence was the worst since August 15, when 74 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in a series of attacks across 17 Iraqi cities.
The attacks come with Iraqi politicians at loggerheads over a warrant issued for the arrest of Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, with Maliki demanding that Kurdish authorities hand over the Sunni Arab leader, who is holed up in their autonomous region. Hashemi denies the charges.
Maliki has also called for his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlak, who belongs to the same Iraqiya bloc as Hashemi, to be sacked after he described the Shiite-led government as a "dictatorship".
Iraqiya, meanwhile, has boycotted parliament and the cabinet, and Maliki has threatened to replace their ministers in the year-old unity government.
At a news conference in Baghdad on Wednesday, Maliki called for Kurdish officials to transfer Hashemi, and warned Iraqiya that he would replace its nine cabinet ministers if they continued to boycott government sessions.
Hashemi denied the terror charges against him after the warrant was issued for his arrest on Monday, and insisted he is willing to stand trial on condition that it be held in the autonomous Kurdish region.
Maliki and other leaders have called for talks to resolve the crisis, but the premier's spokesman told AFP he would not accept any mediation over the charges against Hashemi.
Violence is down from its peak in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 187 people were killed in violence in November, according to official figures.
Source: Agence France Presse
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