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By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press
	

BAGHDAD (AP) — A wave of at least 14 bombings ripped across
Baghdad Thursday morning, killing at least 60 people in the worst
violence in Iraq for months. The apparently coordinated attacks
struck days after the last American forces left the country and in
the midst of a major government crisis between Shiite and Sunni
politicians that has sent sectarian tensions soaring.


      The bombings may be linked more to the U.S. withdrawal than the
political crisis, but all together, the developments heighten fears
of a new round of Shiite-Sunni sectarian bloodshed like the one a
few years back that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.


      There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the bombings
bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaida's Sunni insurgents. Most
appeared to hit Shiite neighborhoods, although some Sunni areas
were also targeted. In all, 11 neighborhoods were hit by either car
bombs, roadside blasts or sticky bombs attached to cars. There was
at least one suicide bombing and the blasts went off over several
hours.


      Coordinated campaigns such as this generally take weeks to plan,
and could have been timed to coincide with the end of the American
military presence in Iraq, possibly to undercut U.S. claims that
they are leaving behind a stable and safe Iraq. Al-Qaida has long
sought to sow chaos and provoke the type of Shiite militant
counterattacks that defined Iraq's insurgency.

      The deadliest attack was in the Karrada neighborhood, where a
suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden vehicle blew himself up
outside the office of a government agency fighting corruption. Two
police officers at the scene said the bomber was driving an
ambulance and told guards that he needed to get to a nearby
hospital. After the guards let him through, he drove to the
building where he blew himself up, the officers said.


      Sirens wailed as ambulances rushed to the scene and a large
plume of smoke rose over the area. The blast left a crater about
five yards (meters) wide in front of the five-story building, which
was singed and blackened.


      "I was sleeping in my bed when the explosion happened, said
12-year-old Hussain Abbas, who was standing nearby in his pajamas.
"I jumped from my bed and rushed to my mom's lap. I told her I did
not to go to school today. I'm terrified."


      At least 25 people were killed and 62 injured in that attack,
officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to speak to the media.


      Figures gathered from Iraqi health and police officials across
the city put the death toll at 60, and 160 injured. The spokesman
for the Iraqi health ministry put the death toll at 57 and said at
least 176 people were injured. But conflicting casualty figures are
common in the aftermath of such widespread bombings.


      For many Iraqis and the Americans who fought a nearly nine-year
war in hopes of leaving behind a free and democratic country, the
events of the past few days are beginning to look like the
country's nightmare scenario. The fragile alliance of Sunnis and
Shiites in the government is completely collapsing, large-scale
violence with a high casualty toll has returned to the capital, and
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is displaying an authoritarian
streak and may be moving to grab the already limited power of the
Sunnis.


      Al-Maliki's Shiite-led government this week accused Vice
President Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's top Sunni political
leader, of running a hit squad that targeted government officials
five years ago, during the height of sectarian warfare. Authorities
put out a warrant for his arrest.


      Many Sunnis fear this is part of a wider campaign to go after
Sunni political figures in general and shore up Shiite control
across the country at a critical time when all American troops have
left Iraq.


      Because such a large-scale, coordinated attack likely took weeks
to plan, and the political crisis erupted only few days ago, the
violence was not likely a direct response to the tensions within
the government. Also, al-Qaida opposed Sunni cooperation in the
Shiite-dominated government in the first place and is not aligned
with Sunni politicians so does not feel any responsibility to press
for any Sunni role in Iraq's power structure.


      The Sunni extremist group often attacks Shiites, who they
believe are not true Muslims.


      U.S. military officials worried about a resurgence of al-Qaida
after their departure. The last American troops left Iraq at dawn
Sunday.


      Al-Qaida in Iraq is severely debilitated from its previous
strength in the early years of the war, but it still has the
capability to launch coordinated and deadly assaults from time to
time.


      The attacks ratchet up tensions at a time when many Iraqis are
already deeply worried about security. The real test of whether
sectarian warfare returns, however, will be whether Shiite
militants are resurgent and return to the type of tit-for-tat
attacks seen at the height of sectarian warfare in 2006-2007.


      During that fighting, neighborhoods that used to contain a
mixture of Shiites and Sunnis were purged entirely of one Muslim
sect or another. Neighbors turned on neighbors in Baghdad, and the
result today is city where neighborhoods are much less religiously
mixed and sectarian lines are clearly drawn.


      Iraqis are already used to horrific levels of violence, but many
wondered when they would be able to enjoy some measure of security
and stability after years of chaos.


      "My baby was sleeping in her bed. Shards of glass have fallen
on our heads. Her father hugged her and carried her. She is now
scared in the next room," said one woman in western Baghdad who
identified herself as Um Hanin. "All countries are stable. Why
don't we have security and stability?"


      While Baghdad and Iraq have gotten much safer over the years,
explosions like Thursday's are still commonplace.


      Al-Maliki's tactics are another source of concern, especially
for Sunnis. He is also pushing for a vote of no-confidence against
another Sunni politician, the deputy prime minister Saleh
al-Mutlaq.


      Ayad Allawi, who heads a Sunni-backed party called Iraqiya, laid
the blame for Thursday's violence with the government. The Iraqiya
coalition also includes al-Hashemi and al-Mutlaq, and Allawi has
been one of al-Maliki's strongest critics. Allawi warned that
violence would continue as long as people are left out of the
political process.


      "We have warned long ago that terrorism will continue ...
against the Iraqi people unless the political landscape is
corrected and the political process is corrected, and it becomes an
inclusive political process and full blown non-sectarian
institutions will be built in Iraq," Allawi told The Associated
Press, speaking from neighboring Beirut.

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