Bombings kill 14 in Baghdad
(AP)
Updated: 2006-05-15 16:44
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A pair of suicide car bombers killed 14 people Sunday in the
biggest insurgent assault in months on the main road to Baghdad's airport, and
other attacks killed a dozen more Iraqis and two American soldiers elsewhere in
the capital.
Iraqi children inspect wreckages of vehicles
burnt following a car bomb attack Baghdad, Sunday, May 14, 2006. Two
suicide car bombs that exploded near a main checkpoint on a four-lane road
leading to Baghdad's international airport, killing at least 14 Iraqis and
wounding six. [AP] |
A weekend of stepped-up violence across Iraq, which included six attacks on
small Shiite Muslim shrines and the bombing deaths of two British soldiers near
recently restive Basra late Saturday, came as politicians again failed to agree
on a new Cabinet.
There had been hope that Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki would fill
at least some Cabinet posts when parliament convened Sunday in Baghdad's heavily
guarded Green Zone, perhaps even taking on for himself contentious roles such as
the interior and defense ministries.
Al-Maliki's mandate to form a Cabinet expires May 22. Should he fail to do
so, President Jalal Talabani would have 15 days to name a new nominee to try to
form a Cabinet. The constitution is unclear on whether he could pick al-Maliki
again.
Lawmakers have struggled since Dec. 15 parliamentary elections to put
together a national unity government, which many Iraqis and the U.S. government
hope will lessen sectarian tensions and undermine support for the Sunni
Arab-dominated insurgency.
The negotiations have bogged down in squabbles over the allocation of key
Cabinet jobs, unable to bridge sectarian and political divisions.
As the 275-member parliament convened, a party loyal to firebrand Shiite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to propose its own Cabinet list if other
groups did not scale back their demands for roles in the new government.
Legislator Bahaa al-Araji of the United Iraqi Alliance denounced what he
called U.S. meddling in the talks and set a deadline of two days to settle the
matter. But the Shiite bloc has only 130 parliament members, which isn't enough
votes to seat a Cabinet.
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