Shiite shrine damaged; top judge’s son killed
BAGHDAD, Iraq – A series of roadside bombs and explosions damaged a Shiite shrine east of the volatile city of Baqouba late Saturday – the second time this year that a site sacred to Iraq’s Shiite majority has been targeted.
In Baghdad, gunmen killed the son of Iraq’s top judge as the country’s prime minister-designate struggled to form a national unity government that could eventually open the way to stability.
The bombing at the Imam Abdullah Ali al-Hadi shrine, which caused no injuries, could have significant repercussions – particularly in the Baqouba area, a mixed Sunni Arab-Shiite region where sectarian tensions are running high.
The blasts occurred about 11 p.m. at the shrine, according to the Diyala provincial police Joint Coordination Center and Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi.
On Feb. 22 bombs heavily damaged the Golden Dome in Samarra, which holds the tomb of Imam Abdullah’s father. That attack triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunnis, dramatically escalating sectarian tension and pushing the country to the brink of civil war.
Iraqi lawmakers have been struggling for months to set up a new national unity government which they hope will calm sectarian and ethnic tensions and sap steam from the insurgency. But negotiations have been progressing at a glacial pace.
Attacks outside Baghdad killed five Iraqis and a U.S. soldier, part of the undercurrent of daily violence marring the slow-moving political process.
With a May 22 constitutional deadline to form the new Cabinet rapidly approaching, Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki urged an important Shiite party to rejoin talks on distributing ministry posts.
Parliament, which must approve the makeup of the government, was to convene today, and some lawmakers had suggested that al-Maliki could present some of his Cabinet. He also has the option of appointing himself to head ministries such as defense and interior if the parties cannot agree on who will run them by the May 22 deadline.