Skip to main content

Iraqi PM Calls for National Unity Following Deadly Bombings

By VOA News
27 June 2009

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki speaks at a ceremony marking the 2003 death of Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim in Baghdad, Iraq, 27 Jun 2009
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki speaks at a ceremony marking the 2003 death of Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim in Baghdad, Iraq, 27 Jun 2009
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called for national unity, following a spate of deadly bombings just days before U.S. forces are set to withdraw from Iraqi cities.

Mr. Maliki said political reconciliation between Iraq's Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim groups is necessary to ensure stability in the country.

The Iraqi prime minister also reiterated Iraqi forces were fully capable of taking over security responsibilities when U.S. forces pull out of urban areas by June 30.

The comments echo that of U.S. President Barack Obama who said Friday the overall security situation in Iraq has improved, despite recent violence.

Friday, at least 16 people were killed in two separate attacks in Baghdad. Earlier this week, at least 76 people were killed in an explosion at a market in the capital's mostly Shi'ite district of Sadr City. A truck bombing last Saturday near Kirkuk killed nearly 70 people.

Separately, the U.S. military released a key aide to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr late Friday.

Abdul-Hadi al-Daraji was arrested in January 2007 at a mosque in Baghdad's eastern Shiite district of Baladiyat.


Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.


source: http://www.voanews.com/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Wake of Protests, Khamenei Faces Split Inside Regime

By Geneive Abdo Iran Analyst, The Century Foundation The basij militias may have crushed the historic street protests against Iran’s election results, but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei now faces a more pressing problem: how to prevent a potent coalition of political elites arrayed against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from destabilizing the entire Islamic political system – and undercutting his own power, too. Western journalists, politicians and pundits have largely focused on the unrest in the streets of Tehran – the worst in the history of the Islamic republic – usually with the underlying, if unjustified, assumption that popular rebellion against clerical rule is at last at hand. However, the real battle is taking place inside the closed world of Iran’s clerical caste, particularly among the relatively confined circle of the “political mullahs” and their lay allies – all of whom have eschewed traditional Shi’ite teachings against direct involvement in political affairs. A “coali...
Post a Comment
Read more

Royal garb

Kim Kardashian reacts to photographers at the Noon by Noor launch event in West Hollywood, Calif., Wednesday night. Noon by Noor is a fashion collection designed by Kingdom of Bahrain royalty Noor Rashid Al Khalifa and Haya Mohammed Al Khalifa. (AP/Chris Pizzello)       The Jakarta Post | Thu, 07/21/2011 3:04 PM
Post a Comment
Read more