Home>News Center>World
         
 

Baghdad car bombs kill at least five policemen
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-03 15:50

Two car bombs exploded near Iraq's Interior Ministry in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least five policemen and wounding several in violence that threatened to overshadow efforts to form a new government.

A police source said the car bombs exploded just outside the heavily guarded ministry in central Baghdad, part of a relentless guerrilla campaign to stall the formation of the new government expected to be named in the next few weeks.

Iraqi politicians are engaged in protracted horse trading to fill top posts in the government, creating a new political landscape that has raised concern over sectarian tensions.

Iraqi soldiers stand guard in a street after car bombs exploded near Iraq's Interior Ministry in Baghdad March 3, 2005. Two car bombs exploded near Iraq's Interior Ministry in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least five policemen and wounding several in violence that threatened to overshadow efforts to form a new government. [Reuters]
Iraqi soldiers stand guard in a street after car bombs exploded near Iraq's Interior Ministry in Baghdad March 3, 2005. Two car bombs exploded near Iraq's Interior Ministry in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least five policemen and wounding several in violence that threatened to overshadow efforts to form a new government. [Reuters]
A Shi'ite alliance won a slim majority in the Jan. 30 polls, gaining power after decades of Sunni domination under Saddam Hussein. The alliance has chosen Islamist Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister. But interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is bidding to keep his job.

The Kurds, who came second in the elections, are in a powerful negotiating position and are seen as kingmakers.

The new government will face the daunting task of tightening security against further attacks by mainly Sunni insurgents angered over losing the privileges they enjoyed under Saddam.

Many Sunni Arabs boycotted the polls or were too afraid to vote, and the 20 percent Sunni Arab minority has little representation in Iraq's new parliament.

Iraqi officials had hoped the elections would help ease violence. But guerrillas have kept up suicide and car bombings in a campaign to topple the U.S.-backed interim government.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

China's top advisory body meets for annual session

 

   
 

Anti-secession law 'won't harm' Straits ties

 

   
 

Owners forced to fund mine safety upgrading

 

   
 

Food police to watch over dinner tables

 

   
 

Report details US human rights violations

 

   
 

N.Korea threatens to test missiles, slams U.S.

 

   
  Human Rights Record of the US in 2004 (full text)
   
  Official: New dynamic in N. Korea nuke talks
   
  Talks on Iraqi coalition government falter
   
  Iran bans U.N. nuke visits on some sites
   
  Russia angry with U.S. human rights report
   
  U.S. official: Iran, Syria 'against all of us'
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Talks on Iraqi coalition government falter
   
Judge in Saddam tribunal shot dead
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement