Word: baghdad
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...relationship and mutual suspicions harbored by the anti-insurgent, largely Sunni Sons of Iraq (SOI) groups and the predominantly Shi'ite government. The U.S. military transferred control of the SOIs to the central government in October. The government has been slow to fulfill its pledge to incorporate 20% of Baghdad's 54,000 SOIs into the armed forces, further frustrating anti-insurgent leaders who want more of their men given security jobs. At the same time, domestic politicking is set to intensify ahead of provincial polls slated for January 31 as rival parties vie for influence and power. The hope...
...politically aligned military muscle and the prize being control over power and resources. As a result, elections tend to exacerbate rather than resolve tensions, and next year's races will likely see sharp political (and occasionally even military) battles between rival Shi'ite parties in the south and Baghdad; between Sunni and Shi'ite blocs in some parts north of Baghdad, such as Diyala province, as well as between the government (including the Sunni parties that have participated in it, until now) and the U.S.-backed Sunni Awakening movement of former insurgents; and between Kurds, Arabs and Turkomans...
...tactic had been becoming increasingly rare in today's nominally safer Iraq. But on Monday, multiple bombings just minutes apart tore up parts of Baghdad during the morning rush hour. While alarming because there hadn't been a major attack for a while, the bombs that exploded in the predominantly Shi'ite neighborhood of Kasra are unlikely to herald a return to the bad old days, according to security officials. Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, they say, have been severely weakened and are merely shadows of their former selves, too hamstrung to conduct extended campaigns of terror. (See pictures...
...exploded. It was rapidly followed by a suicide bombing targeting onlookers rushing to help, according to an Interior Ministry official. The estimates numbered the dead from 25 to 31, with some 70 people wounded. It was the deadliest attack in months, but nothing like the devastatingly lethal blasts during Baghdad's darkest days, when death tolls would rapidly and routinely spiral into the hundreds. In a macabre way the blast was both a reminder of how infrequent such attacks have become but also how unstable the country remains...
...Iraqi government, for its part, has asked that all U.S. troops be pulled out of Iraqi cities by June 2009 and out of Iraq by 2012. That remains part of the Status of Forces draft agreement currently being renegotiated between Washington and Baghdad, to create a legal framework for the operation of U.S. troops in Iraq when their current mandate expires on January 1. Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, says he is confident that the Obama administration will not pull U.S. troops out of Iraq too quickly. Obama has agreed to "consult with the Iraqi government...