Violence rages as new Iraqi Cabinet convenes

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A roadside bomb explosion wounded five people in a mostly Sunni Arab neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday, a day after the formation of the country’s new national unity government.

The 8 a.m. blast missed its target — a police patrol — but wounded five civilians, including three in a nearby car, in Sadiyah, southwestern Baghdad, said police Capt. Jamil Hussein.

On Saturday, parliament inaugurated Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s new government, which hopes to improve the Iraq’s military and police forces, win the battle against insurgent groups and militias, reduce sectarian violence and restore stability to Iraq.

But political infighting left three important posts in the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish Cabinet temporarily filled — the very ones responsible for managing Iraq’s army, police forces and national security.

Al-Maliki said he is determined to soon find independent, nonsectarian officials to fill those three portfolios, and his new Cabinet was scheduled to meet in Baghdad later Sunday.

PM vows ‘maximum force’ on terrorists
Earlier on Sunday al-Maliki vowed to use “maximum force against terrorism,” as bombs exploded in Baghdad during the first meeting of his national unity government.

A suicide bomber killed at least 12 people and injured 14 after detonating his explosive vest inside a downtown Baghdad restaurant popular with police officers, police said.

The dead included three police officers, said Police Col. Abbas Mohammed. The explosion occurred at 1:20 p.m. during the crowded lunch hour.

And a car bomb killed three people and wounded 21 more in Baghdad’s western mainly Shiite Shula district. The same day, a roadside bomb on the eastern bank of the Tigris killed three people and wounded 24 in a blast apparently targeting Iraqi police in a busy commercial street.

The violence was a fresh reminder of the huge task al-Maliki faces in reining in bloodshed that has pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.

The tough-talking Shiite Islamist, briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, said however that his government would hold out the offer of dialogue to those prepared to renounce violence. “We will use maximum force against terrorism, but we also need a national initiative,” he said.

An Arab League national reconciliation meeting is due to take place next month in Baghdad.

Bush hails new government
The inauguration of Iraq’s new government marks a new era in relations with the country that the U.S. has occupied for more than three years, President Bush said Sunday in Washington.

“The formation of a unity government in Iraq is a new day for the millions of Iraqis who want to live in peace,” Bush said. “And the formation of the unity government in Iraq begins a new chapter in our relationship with Iraq.”

Bush briefly spoke to reporters from the White House with his wife, Laura, at his side, to highlight the political development without mentioning the violence that still rages in Iraq.

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