Iraq sliding towards Shiite-Sunni civil war

One day after Iraq's National Assembly approved the country's first democratically elected government, insurgents launched a series of attacks in Iraq on Friday, killing at least 13 Iraqis and wounding 50, officials said. Prime Minister Allawi himself escaped an assassination attempt last Wednesday when a car bomb exploded at his convoy.

Incoming Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari hailed the new Cabinet as "the first step in building the new Iraq." While the country faces significant hurdles, he said Iraqis who "challenged tyranny" by electing a new parliament in January "will help this government to succeed and will not be intimidated."

However, Sunni leaders, including Deputy President Ghazi al-Yawer, expressed disappointment with the lineup.

"The number of ministries given to the Sunnis is not enough," al-Yawer told reporters. But he said the issue could be resolved soon as Iraq continues its transition to democracy, including electing a new government by year's end.

The partial Cabinet was appointed after three months of political infighting, and U.S. officials were worried that the political vacuum was encouraging insurgents, who have staged a series of dramatic and well-coordinated attacks in recent weeks.

On Friday, the Sunni-led insurgency continued those attacks.

In the Azamiyah section of Baghdad, the first homicide car bomb hit an Iraqi army patrol, the second a police patrol, and the third and fourth — in quick succession — separate barricades near the headquarters of the Interior Ministry's local special forces unit, said police chief Brig. Khalid al-Hassan.

He said the three attacks killed a total of at least 13 Iraqis, including seven soldiers, one policeman and five civilians, and wounded 48 Iraqis, including 35 civilians and 13 soldiers.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol, wounding one policeman, and a 10-year-old child was seriously wounded when a mortar round hit a house there, police said.

In southern Iraq, where Britain's forces are based, a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi border guard patrol west of Basra killed one soldier and wounded two, said Iraqi Lt. Col. Abdul Hadi Al-Najar.

Unknown gunmen shot dead an Iraqi woman MP on the doorstep of her home in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, an interior ministry official said. "Armed men knocked at her door and when she answered, they shot her," the official said.

Lamiya Abed Khadawi was a member of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s coalition.

She was attacked shortly after she returned home following a meeting of the National Assembly in Baghdad.

The attackers escaped right after they killed her.

Khadawi is the first parliament member to be killed in Iraq since the January 30 elections. She was among 90 other women elected to Iraq’s National Assembly.

Unlike many members of Iraq's National Assembly, Khadawi did not employ bodyguards, depending mainly on her sons for protection.

The attack came as pressure mounted on Iraqi newly sworn-in leaders to end weeks of political deadlock and form a new government.

So as predicted more and more Iraqi Members of Parliament, Ministers, Government and Military Officals, Judges foreign ambassadors would be targetted.

The new Shia Prime minister-designate, Ibrahim al-Jaafari would be a favorite target of the Wahabi hoodlums led by Zarqawi. If this happens, it is certain to spark a Shiite-Sunni war in Iraq, that may spill over to the neighboring Arab nations.

Story Credits: Fox News and Al Jazeera