Sunni militia leaders targeted as bombs kill at least 9 people in Iraq

At least 9 Iraqis killed in bombings

BAGHDAD — Bombs killed at least nine Iraqis on Tuesday, including two leaders of government-backed Sunni militias that have fought al-Qaida in Iraq, officials said.

Members of so-called Awakening Councils, which have been key to a sharp drop in violence in recent years, frequently have been targeted by insurgents, along with government officials and others seen as allied with U.S.-led efforts to stabilize the country.

The violence began Tuesday with an 8 a.m. roadside bomb in the mainly Sunni area of Dora, a former insurgent stronghold in southern Baghdad, that was aimed at a convoy of a senior Transportation Ministry official but missed its target and killed two bystanders.

Abdullah Loaebi, the director-general of the ministry’s private transportation department, was unharmed, but police and hospital officials said that along with the two killed, eight others were wounded.

In Diyala province north of Baghdad, bombs attached to cars belonging to members of an anti-al-Qaida Sunni group killed two of its leaders in separate attacks.

Maj. Ghalib al-Karkhi, Diyala’s police spokesman, said the blasts killed the chiefs of the Awakening Council in southern Baqouba, and in a village near Buhriz, a former Saddam Hussein stronghold about 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

A few hours later, another blast killed a vocal al-Qaida critic as he was driving his car in Fallujah, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad. Police and hospitals officials said the bomb stuck to Najim Abid al-Issawi’s car also wounded his passenger. Al-Qaida militants are believed to have killed al-Issawi’s two brothers.

Also in Baqouba, Diyala’s provincial capital, a motorcycle bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded eight civilians. In Baghdad, a roadside bomb struck near the office of a Shiite religious party, wounding 10 people, including eight guards, according to police and hospital reports.

Bombs attached to cars also killed four people, including a 5-year-old girl, in separate attacks in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information.

The number of attacks has declined sharply since local tribal leaders revolted against al-Qaida in Iraq and formed Awakening Councils in late 2006 and 2007. But fears are high that frustration over a political deadlock following the March 7 parliamentary elections could stoke new violence.

Baghdad has seen a series of high profile bombings since August that have killed hundreds of people and raised questions about the preparedness of Iraq’s security forces to take over from the Americans.

Anger against the government also has been on the rise, as officials continue to dither over naming Iraq’s next leaders amid sorely lacking public services. Protests over electricity shortages in Iraq’s sweltering south continued Tuesday, prompting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to promise to make power needs a top government priority.

“I understand the issue of powers shortages, but we should not politicize these demonstrations,” al-Maliki told reporters in Baghdad, several hours after a protest in Karbala ended peacefully.

Al-Maliki said he was deciding whether to accept the resignation of Electricity Minister Karim Waheed, who offered to step down Monday. Al-Maliki called Waheed “a good man” and said the power crisis likely would continue to plague Iraq for two more years at least.

Associated Press Writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Mazin Yahya contributed to this report.