Spiralling violence claims 200 lives in two days

Iraq:Iraqi prime minister Nouri al- Maliki has condemned as a "heinous crime" Saturday's bombing which killed 150 people and wounded 240 in the northern town of Amirli.

Rescue teams are continuing to dig in the ruins of shops and houses for 20 missing people. The toll at Amirli, a Shia Turkomen town on the border of the Kurdish region, was the second highest for a single incident this year after the April lorry bombing of a market in Baghdad which killed 190.

The spiral of violence continued yesterday with 23 army recruits killed and 27 wounded in a suicide attack east of Falluja and two died in a second bombing nearby. In Baghdad, eight people died in car bombings, according to police.

The Amirli bombing delivered a sharp blow to the credibility of the embattled prime minister and to the US-led pacification campaign launched in mid-February. Mr Maliki blamed insurgents while US commander Gen David Petreus said high-profile attacks could be expected over the coming months as the surge peaks.

Officials in Salaheddin province where Amirli is located complained that security there had deteriorated because an Iraqi army battalion had been dispatched to Baghdad to take part in the surge to dislodge insurgents and foreign fighters in the capital. Many of these insurgents have simply shifted to the countryside to launch operations against town and village targets such as Amirli, which is experiencing friction with neighbouring Sunni Arab villages.

While Mr Maliki claimed insurgents were showing desperation by mounting these attacks, observers argue that he and the US are in an increasingly desperate situation because of pressure in Iraq and the US for results on both the military and political fronts.

The New York Timesyesterday called on the US "to leave Iraq without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organise an orderly exit".

US and Iraqi forces have been unable to subdue insurgents and foreign fighters operating in 60 per cent of the capital and the number of murdered civilians found daily is rising, after a dip early in the year.

About 30,000 US troops backed up by Iraqi units have been deployed in Baghdad with the aim of enabling the government to adopt legislation which could improve relations between the Shia fundamentalist government and alienated Sunnis and secularists. Mr Maliki has not delivered, however, and his agenda is under even greater pressure than before.

Cabinet and parliament, boycotted by both Shia and Sunni factions, have been unable to adopt legislation on a list drawn up by Washington in May 2006.

Expectations that the oil law will be passed by the end of this month have been dashed because of opposition from Sunnis, Kurds and the Shia faction loyal to rebellious cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. His supporters reject any law that permits companies from occupying countries to develop and exploit Iraqi oil. The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential group of Sunni clerics, issued a religious edict forbidding deputies from voting for the measure. Sunnis insist that the constitution should be amended, in line with a 2005 pledge, before the oil law is presented to parliament.

Kurds complain about provisions defining control over resources and revenue-sharing and the powerful Oil Workers' Union has condemned the draft law because of provisions allowing for profit-sharing between foreign companies and the state.

Legislation lifting restrictions on former Baathists in public service, providing for local elections and banning party and communal militias, has also been obstructed by factional disputes.