A suicide bomber kills 22 people in Baghdad

On Monday the headquarters of a Shiite foundation in Baghdad was the target of a suicide attack against a backdrop of religious and political tensions. A suicide car bomber destroyed, Monday, the headquarters of a Shiite religious foundation in Baghdad, killing at least 22 dead and reviving fears of new sectarian tensions in a country plunged into a severe political crisis. This review is the heaviest for a single attack in Baghdad since the explosion of a car bomb on January 27 near a hospital, which had 31 deaths. The attack, which also wounded about sixty, has referred the administration in charge of managing Iraq's Shiite religious sites, about 11 am in the Bab al-Muazzam in central Baghdad. Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, parliament speaker and the Sunni Osama al-Noujaifi, condemned the attack and called for calm. The building was "totally destroyed", told the vice-director of the Foundation, Sheikh Sami al-Massoudi, stressing that "martyrs are buried under the ruins."

A conflict between Sunnis and Shiites

The institution referred was in conflict with the Sunni equivalent, over control of the Shiite shrine in Samarra Al-Askari, a predominantly Sunni city located 110 km north of Baghdad. This mausoleum was the target of a bombing on 22 February 2006, which triggered a sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites that has killed tens of thousands of deaths in subsequent years. The Shiites are the majority in Iraq. Monday's attack " occurred after the (Shiite Foundation) has made ​​the registration of the mausoleum five days ago, and we received many threats. Some media have created tensions on this matter , "said Sheikh Massoudi. This procedure is " legal and constitutional, and we are within our rights because he is a Shiite site , "he added. " We do not blame anybody, but we call on Iraqis to bury the quarrel, because there is a plan to launch a civil war "faith-based. A spokesman for the Sunni Foundation, Faris al-Mehdaoui condemned the attack, described as " criminal and cowardly fanatic , "and the action of those who" want to return the country to years of violence . " He said that shortly after the attack, two shells had fallen on the seat of his institution in Baghdad. An official at the Interior Ministry said it was an explosion caused by a bomb. There were no casualties. At the scene of the attack, dozens of ambulances and rescue workers were busy to evacuate and search the rubble, while relatives gathered nearby. Mohamed, owner of a restaurant opposite the target site, crying, vilifying the political class: " Come see the homes that were destroyed on the heads of children " " It was a 4X4 white, he (the bomber) was going too fast and struck the door of the foundation and exploded. Suddenly I saw two of my employees dead before me , "he added, shirtless and covered in blood with visible stitches on his wounds. " Maliki and Allawi are competing to run the government and we are the victims , "he said in allusion to the prime minister and his rival Iyad Allawi.

Political crisis

Iraq is mired in six months in a severe political crisis between Nouri al-Maliki several Sunni and Kurdish leaders who criticize his authoritarianism. The tone has hardened in recent weeks and the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and the secular Iraqiya bloc, which includes Osama al-Noujaifi, called these days Nouri al-Maliki to resign. As the country continues to face serious security problems and poverty, the action of political institutions seems virtually paralyzed since December.