Insurgent attacks kill 21 in Iraq; bomb targets Allawi headquarters

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Insurgents detonated three car bombs Monday, including one that struck the headquarters of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s political party, as part of a campaign to derail the nation’s first free election in decades.

The bombings, along with two other attacks, killed at least 21 people.

The attacks targeted three crucial groups that are shaping the Jan. 30 election: a Shiite Muslim political party; the American government, which has pushed for the vote to happen on time; and the nascent Iraqi military, assigned to secure the country on Election Day.

Shiites, who make up about 60 percent of Iraq’s population, are expected to make big gains in the election, giving them control of the government that will draft the nation’s new constitution.

U.S. and Iraqi officials think that insurgents’ attacks, especially on political party headquarters and Iraqi security forces, will increase as the election approaches.

The first bombing, around 9:30 a.m., targeted the prime minister’s party, the Iraqi National Accord, a secular Shiite group. A car exploded as the bomber tried to drive though a checkpoint.

According to hospital officials, three people were killed, including two policemen. Twelve others were wounded, five of them civilians, the Interior Ministry said. The other seven were police assigned to guard the area.

Allawi’s party reportedly was preparing to meet and discuss the candidates it will offer for the election when the bomb exploded. Allawi wasn’t in the building during the attack.

The explosion made for a tense morning in much of Mansour, the Baghdad neighborhood where the party’s headquarters is. Many of Mansour’s streets were shut down by nervous police officers, who were quick to point a gun at anyone who tried to pass. American helicopters flew overhead an hour afterward, surveying the damage.

Around midafternoon, at a checkpoint entrance to the Green Zone, the area in Baghdad that houses the government and coalition authorities, a second suicide bomb detonated as a civilian convoy passed. It was the third time that checkpoint had been attacked in 10 days.

Four men riding in an SUV were killed. They worked for Kroll Inc., a risk-consulting company based in New York, said Robert Callahan, a U.S. Embassy spokesman. Bodies in a SUV reportedly were seen burning at the site. Officials didn’t release the nationalities of the victims.

Outside central Baghdad, there were several attacks. In Balad, 30 miles north of Baghdad, a car bomb targeting the Iraqi national guard killed four and wounded at least 14, the second day in a row that guards in that town had been attacked. In Tikrit, a roadside explosion killed six national guardsman.

In northern Baghdad, four civilians were killed and three were wounded when someone set off an explosive device.

Insurgents have urged Iraqis not to participate in the election, in some cases threatening to kill those who work for Iraqi police or military or who show up to vote.