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Five killed in three baghdad car bombs Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Five Killed in Three Baghdad Car Bombs
Five Killed in Three Baghdad Car Bombs Day Before Iraqi Parliament Is to Convene
By TODD PITMAN
The Associated Press
Mar. 15, 2005 - Kurdish and Shiite leaders agreed to convene Iraq's new parliament Wednesday even if they fail to complete a deal to form a coalition government. Three car bombs exploded Tuesday in Baghdad, killing at least five people, police said.
Shiite officials said they also agreed to reach out to the country's Sunni Arab community to name the parliament speaker for the 275-member National Assembly that is to convene for the first time since the Jan. 30 elections.
A car bomb targeting a U.S. military convoy exploded on a road about 500 yards from the main avenue leading to Baghdad's international airport, police Capt. Thamir Talib said. Four civilians were killed and seven were wounded, including two police officers, he said.
Witnesses said some American troops also were wounded, although that was not confirmed by U.S. officials. When U.S. forces arrived to evacuate them, another car bomb exploded, wounding more troops. One Humvee was destroyed and two civilian cars were in flames, witnesses said.
A U.S. military spokesman said he was checking into the report.
Another suicide car bomb exploded in northeastern Baghdad, killing one child and wounding at least four people, including a police officer, police Col. Muhanad Sadoun said. The bomber was trying to hit a patrol of traffic police but crashed into a tree, Sadoun said.
Separately, a U.S. Marine with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died Monday in Anbar, a troubled province that has been a hotbed of guerrilla activity and includes the cities of Fallujah, Ramadi and Qaim, officials said Tuesday.
At least 1,515 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The Shiite clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance and a Kurdish coalition, which won the two biggest blocks of seats in January's landmark elections, agreed last week to form a coalition government with Islamic Dawa Party leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari as prime minister. In return, Jalal Talabani will become Iraq's first Kurdish president.
"We discussed the blueprint of the agreement reached Thursday. Some issues were revised and those revisions are still being discussed," alliance member Ali al-Dabagh told The Associated Press.
Al-Dabagh expressed optimism a final deal would be reached soon, but he added that even without an agreement "the first session of the National Assembly will be held on Wednesday anyway."
Barham Saleh, a Kurd, indicated the two groups want to reach out to other factions to fill some Cabinet posts.
He said Shiite and Kurd negotiators planned to meet Tuesday with representatives from interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's Iraqi List, which placed a distant third in the parliamentary elections.
Al-Dabagh declined to discusses details of the issues that snagged the Shiite alliance's talks with the Kurds, but he did say that the negotiators, meeting inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, talked about who should get the post of parliament speaker.
"We still do not have an agreement on who will be parliament speaker," he said. "We do not want to name the speaker; the Sunnis must participate in this decision."
He said they would meet with Sunni Arab representatives Tuesday.
Sunni Arabs, who make up only about 20 percent of the population but were the dominant group under Saddam's regime, largely stayed away from the elections either to honor a boycott call or because they feared being attacked at the polls by insurgents.
On Tuesday, Iraqi authorities stepped up security around the Green Zone, where the parliament will meet. Two bridges leading to the Green Zone were shut down by Iraqi security forces, and roadblocks were erected on other streets leading to the area.
The U.S.-led coalition press office issued a statement on behalf of the parliament, saying the newly elected members will take the oath of office Wednesday. They will then elect the parliament speaker and two deputies, as well was the new transitional government's three-member Presidency Council the president and two vice presidents.
The United Iraqi Alliance has proposed Sheik Fawaz al-Jarba, one of the few Sunni Arabs in its coalition, to be speaker. It was unclear if he would be acceptable to the Sunni community.
Sunni Arabs are believed to make up the core of the insurgency and including them in the political process was seen as a way to isolate the militants.
The Shiite alliance won 140 seats in the National Assembly, but needs the Kurds' 75 seats to assemble the two-thirds majority required to elect a president, who will then nominate the prime minister.
Meanwhile, authorities in the holy city of Najaf south of Baghdad arrested a suspect believed to have been involved in the 2003 assassination of Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, said police chief Maj. Gen. Ghaleb al-Jazaeri.
Ramzy Hashim was arrested 10 days ago and confessed that he was one of the assailants who carried out the Aug. 29, 2003, attack outside a mosque in Najaf that killed more than 85 people, including al-Hakim.
The Baghdad office of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the cleric's younger brother and leader of the United Iraqi Alliance, confirmed that a suspect involved in the assassination was detained in Najaf more than a week ago.
Al-Jazaeri added that Hashim allegedly came to Najaf alongside other accomplices to carry out attacks on the office of Iraq's top Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Associated Press reporters Qasim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk contributed to this report.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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