Iraq's prime minister visited Gulf Arab leaders today to win support for his plan to end communal bloodshed, but new bombings and a boycott of parliament by Sunni Arab lawmakers underlined the difficulty of his task.
Vegetables are scattered among bloodstains as U.S. soldiers and Iraqi forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, this morning. Photo: REUTERS/Khaleed al-Mousily
Eleven people were killed when bombs exploded in crowded markets north and south of Baghdad, while mortar rounds landed in a market in the capital itself, wounding 10.
Iraq's main Sunni political bloc boycotted parliament for a second day and said the walkout would last until a colleague was freed by gunmen who seized her in a Shia area of Baghdad on Saturday - seemingly accusing pro-government Shia militias.
No one has claimed responsibility for kidnapping Taiseer Najah al-Mashhadani and her seven bodyguards, but Sunni leaders have long accused Shia militias of targeting Sunnis.
"We are suspending our participation until the release of Mashhadani," Sunni leader Adnan al-Dulaimi told Reuters.
Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki reached out to Sunnis in his national reconciliation plan unveiled last week, which seeks to end the three-year-old Sunni insurgency and sectarian violence that has pushed Iraq to the brink of all-out civil war.
In his first foreign trip since being sworn in on May 20th, Maliki flew to Saudi Arabia on Saturday and was in the United Arab Emirates on Monday to win backing for the plan and new investment for his country's economy. He heads to Kuwait next.
Analysts say any deepening of the civil conflict in Iraq could draw in neighbouring states on opposing sides, with Iran tending to line up behind the majority Shi'ites and Arab states like Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states backing fellow Sunnis.
In his talks with Maliki, Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan called on Iraq's Shia and Sunni communities "to rise above all the differences for the sake of the greater interest of Iraq".
While Maliki was in Abu Dhabi, the Sunni Arab speaker of Iraq's parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, was in Tehran telling officials of the Shia Islamic Republic that Iraq needed "the support and help of its friends and neighbours".
Washington has accused Tehran of meddling in Iraq's affairs and of giving material support to Shia militias who have become increasingly powerful and analysts say pose a growing threat to the stability of Maliki's new government.
The deadliest of today's market blasts was in Mahmudiya, a town south of Baghdad, where a bomb killed six people and wounded 18, police said. It was the second attack there in as many days.
In Iraq's third city, Mosul, a car bomb targeting a police patrol killed five people and wounded 28 in a crowded market, police said.