IRAQ: Iraq's premier is in no position to tackle militia groups because he was put in office by the organisations to which the gunmen belong, writes Michael Jansen
As the death toll among US and coalition forces this month reached 105 yesterday, a bomb in a rubbish bin killed 36 and wounded 60 Iraqis gathered around stalls where employers hire day labourers in the Shia slum quarter of Sadr City.
Elsewhere in the capital five car bombings killed 10 and injured 20 civilians, and gunmen assassinated Issam al-Rawi, a member of the Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association and head of the university professors' union. The bodies of another 50 people were collected around the city and two police officers and a child died in an attack on a passport office in Kirkuk.
This was the third time the site in Sadr City, stronghold of the Shia Mahdi Army militia, was bombed this year, giving rise to concern that militiamen would spill out of the district and wreak revenge on Sunnis.
Most strikes on Shia targets are blamed on al-Qaeda in Iraq or other Sunni militants seeking to foment sectarian strife.
However, Mahdi Army fighters could be held in check this time because US troops are ringing the quarter, monitoring all traffic in and out, and conducting searches for a US soldier of Iraqi origin abducted last week while on a family visit in the central Karrada district.
The spike in violence took place as US national security adviser Stephen Hadley paid an unannounced visit to Baghdad's fortified green zone, which houses foreign embassies and government offices.
Mr Hadley met his Iraqi counterpart, Mouwafaq al-Rubaie, to elaborate the work of a joint committee on military and political co-ordination established last week by US president George Bush and Iraqi premier Nouri al-Maliki. The committee was formed to ease recent tensions between Mr Maliki and the Bush administration.
Over the weekend the premier angrily rejected US charges that he is not doing enough to rein in militias and promote reconciliation between Shias and Sunnis, and proclaimed he is "not America's man in Iraq".
Mr Maliki is also under strong pressure from Sunni members of the government and parliament to disarm and disband the two Shia militias accused of most of the ongoing sectarian violence, the Badr Corps and the Mahdi Army.
Vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's most senior Sunni official, threatened to resign if Mr Maliki does not act against the militias, while Adnan Dulaimi, who heads the Sunni National Accordance Front, said the bloc would boycott parliament unless security is restored. However, Mr Maliki is in no position to tackle these militias because he was put in office by the organisations to which the gunmen belong, the pro-Iranian Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the movement headed by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Meanwhile, lawyers for ousted president Saddam Hussein walked out of court once again in protest at the handling of the case by the chief judge, Muhammad al-Khalifa.
Khalil Dulaimi, head defence lawyer, said the basic requisites for a fair trial were absent and he warned of a violent response if the court were to hand down a death sentence.
The judge promptly named another counsel to defend the former ruler, who faces execution in another case concerning the killing of 158 Shia villagers after a 1982 assassination attempt on him.