Will Iraqi parliament meeting fan unrest?

Bombs rattle capital
A suicide car bomber hit an Interior Ministry convoy in eastern Baghdad, killing two members of the security force and injuring three, police said

Another bomb exploded as a police patrol was driving through a northern Baghdad neighborhood, killing one officer and a civilian bystander, al-Mohammedawi said. Three others were injured in the blast, including a patrol member, he said.

Two more policemen were killed when a car bomb exploded in a residential street, said al-Mohammedawi. Three people, including one policeman, were injured in the blast, which blew out windows of nearby cars and homes.

Another car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded in downtown, injuring seven people, police said. The wounded included four policemen and three civilian bystanders.

Two bombs went off in Baghdad’s notorious southern Dora neighborhood. One targeted an Interior Ministry patrol, wounding one commando, police said. A second went off as a U.S. patrol was passing, injuring five policemen, who were guarding a bank, and two civilians, al-Mohammedawi said. There were no immediate reports of U.S. casualties.

An earlier explosion near the Shiite Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad caused no casualties, police said.

Police found at least four more bodies that were shot in the head and dumped in parts of Baghdad. And three Shiite Turkmen were killed in a drive-by-shooting near Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

In Mahmoudiya, about 18 miles south of Baghdad, a car bomb hit a police patrol, killing a woman and injuring three other people, including two patrolmen, police said. A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol in Jurf al-Nadaf, 10 miles south of Baghdad, injured two more civilians, police said.

In Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, a roadside bomb missed another U.S. convoy, killing an Iraqi civilian and injuring two others instead, police and hospital officials said.

And three Shiite Turkmen were killed in a drive-by-shooting near Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

U.S. officials regard a government with participation across Iraq’s ethnic and religious communities as a key step in improving security and weakening support for insurgents — a precondition that would allow Washington and its allies to begin pulling out troops.

Strained ties between parties
Under the constitution, the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, gets the first crack at forming a government and chose al-Jaafari as its nominee for prime minister.

But the Alliance has too few seats to act alone. And it is facing stiff opposition from Sunni, Kurdish and some secular parties that favor current Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Al-Jaafari defeated Abdul-Mahdi, who is backed by powerful Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, by just one vote in the Shiite caucus, relying on al-Sadr’s support to secure the nomination. Both al-Sadr and al-Hakim have strong militias behind them.

Al-Jaafari’s supporters and a Kurdish delegation favoring Abdul-Mahdi have both visited Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric, hoping to secure his endorsement.

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