http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/06/20126485346460343.html
Blast strikes Shia charity office in Iraq
Reports of 18 people killed and up to 100 others injured in attack on Shia
Endowment's headquarters in Baghdad.
Last Modified: 04 Jun 2012 20:36
Email
Monday's blast in central Baghdad was the deadliest single attack in the
country in three months [Reuters]
A powerful car bomb has exploded outside a Shia administration office in
central Baghdad, killing several people and wounding many others, according to
Iraqi officials.
Iraqi officials say that at least 18 people were killed and up to 100 injured
in Monday's attack.
The blast targeted the Shia Endowment office - a government-run body that looks
after Shia religious sites - damaging its headquarters and a nearby health
administration office, police said.
The blast destroyed the facade of the three-storey building, and was the
deadliest single attack in the country in three months, according to Iraqi
officials.
In apparent retaliation, a mortar shell hit close to Iraq's main office for
Sunni Muslim religious affairs in northeastern Baghdad later on Monday, but
caused no damage or injuries.
Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq in recent years, but attacks on government
offices and members of the security forces, aimed at undermining the Shia-led
ruling coalition, are still common.
Political paralysis
Monday's explosion came at a time of a prolonged political paralysis caused by
sectarian tensions.
Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, issued a statement regarding the attack,
which said: "We strongly condemn the cowardly terrorist attack ... and confirm
that these ugly crimes will fail in planting sectarian sedition between Iraqi
people ... the terrorist attack that targeted the Sunni Endowment later today
is proof that there is one side that is trying to ignite sedition."
Follow in-depth coverage of the nation in flux
Monday's attack was the deadliest in Iraq since March 5, when assailants waving
the battle flag of al-Qaeda killed 25 policemen in the western Iraqi town of
Haditha.
Last week a string of bombings killed 17 people in Baghdad and one in the
northern town of Mosul.
The violence is adding to Iraq's sense of instability. Maliki's unity
government has been largely paralysed since the withdrawal of the US troops in
December.
There is mounting criticism of al-Maliki within the ruling coalition over
complaints that he is shutting out Iraq's two main minorities - Kurds and Sunni
Muslims - in decision-making.
However, his opponents appear to fall short of a needed majority in parliament
to bring down him down.
Violence in Iraq has declined, but Sunni armed groups tied to al-Qaeda are
still potent. They often attack Shia targets to try to stir up the kind of
sectarian tensions that pushed the country close to civil war in 2006-2007.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
