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Car bombs kill 16 in Iraq; 26 dead in other attacks

The formation of a new government has yet to stem the violence.

By Dti
Published May 8, 2006

BAGHDAD - Car bombs killed at least 16 people and injured dozens Sunday in Baghdad and a Shiite holy city, casting doubt on U.S. hopes that formation of a new government alone would provide a quick end to the country's violence.

At least 26 others were killed or found dead Sunday, including a U.S. Marine mortally wounded in the insurgent bastion of Anbar province in western Iraq, police and the U.S. military said.

Some of the victims appeared to have been abducted and killed by sectarian "death squads" that target members of rival religious communities.

The deadliest single attack occurred at midmorning when a suicide driver detonated his vehicle near an Iraqi army patrol leaving its base in the Sunni Arab neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing 10 people and injuring 15, most of them Iraqi soldiers, police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.

A half-hour earlier, a car bomb exploded near the Baghdad offices of the state-run Sabah newspaper, killing an employee, police Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said. Officials believed the target was a police patrol that passed by shortly before the blast.

In Karbala, a Shiite holy city 60 miles south of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle near the main provincial government building, killing five people and wounding 19, police spokesman Rahman Mishawi said.

The bomber was unable to reach the government building because of concrete barricades and a police cordon and instead set off his explosives about 300 yards away, police said.

U.S. officials have long contended that violence would subside if Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds believed they had a stake in a new unity government representing all the nation's religious and ethnic communities.

The framework of Iraq's new unity government was put in place last month with the selection of a president, vice presidents, prime minister and parliament speaker. Incoming Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, hopes to present his Cabinet to Parliament by Wednesday.

In London, the British Defense Ministry said "up to five" British personnel had been killed in Saturday's helicopter crash in Basra. British officials have not confirmed Iraqi police and witness reports that the Lynx helicopter was shot down.

Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, was calm Sunday after a day of violence when about 250 Iraqis cheered wildly, hurled stones and fired gunshots at British troops who had rushed to the crash scene. Five Iraqis, including a child, were killed in the melee, and several British troops were slightly injured.

In a bid to ease tension, Basra Gov. Mohammed al-Waeli agreed Sunday to resume cooperation with British authorities, which he broke off four months ago after British troops cracked down on police officers with links to Shiite militias.

Britain's new defense secretary, Des Browne, told Sky News that the unrest in Basra does not mean the security situation has deteriorated there, saying the number of rioters was small in a city of about 1.5-million.

In another political development Sunday, Kurdistan's Parliament formally unified the Kurdish region's two long-standing administrations, a step expected to consolidate and strengthen the Kurds' push for power.

[Last modified May 8, 2006, 08:19:07]