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The death toll from a series of bomb blasts in mainly Shi'ite areas of Baghdad on Tuesday has reached 64, with 360 wounded, Reuters quoted Iraq's health minister as saying Wednesday. The bombings occurred hours after a memorial service for some of the 52 hostages and police killed in a church raid Sunday, and as the Iraqi government vowed to improve security for Iraq's Christian minority. "Most of the wounded (Tuesday) received medical treatment, and only 86 stayed at hospitals," Health Minister Saleh al-Hasnawi told state television. The attacks appear to demonstrate that a weakened but stubborn insurgency has a greater capacity to carry out larger-scale strikes than US and Iraqi officials have acknowledged. Iraq remains in political limbo nearly eight months after an inconclusive election, raising fears that Sunni extremist groups, such as Al Qaeda, might exploit tensions to reignite a sectarian war. The Sunni-dominated Iraqiya bloc of former premier Iyad Allawi narrowly won the March 7 election with 91 seats in the 325-member Parliament, followed by 89 for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite State of Law Alliance. Neither has been able to muster the majority needed to form a government, despite back-door negotiations with various Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs that also picked up seats. Agencies |
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