Iraqi candidates urged not to make security a campaign issue

Dec 17, 2009, 10:22 GMT

Baghdad - Iraq's top politicians have appealed to candidates in the March parliamentary elections to avoid politicizing recent deadly attacks, a presidential office statement said Thursday.

Politicians had 'a responsibility to maintain solidarity' in combating 'terrorist threats that harm innocent citizens,' the statement posted by spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh on the Iraqi presidency's website said.

The leaders 'stressed their determination to stay away from any speculations on the security situation during the election period,' it added.

President Jalal Talabani, Shiite Vice President Adil Abdel-Mahdi, and Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi met with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and leaders of the country's largest parliamentary blocs, the statement said.

At a news conference Wednesday, al-Maliki said as many as 46 security officers may have been involved in the December 8 car bombings that killed more than 100 people in Baghdad's heavily fortified central area where many government ministries and foreign embassies are located.

A fresh triple car bombing struck the same area on December 15, leaving at least four dead. The area was also struck by bombs in October and August which combined killed more than 250 people.

Al-Maliki charged that al-Qaeda militants linked to former members of Iraq's Baathist regime were responsible for all three attacks, and that they sought to 'harm the political process' ahead of the elections.

His remarks followed Vice President al-Hashemi's calls for resignations following the bombings.

Leaders 'should say, 'I apologise, I resign',' al-Hashemi said in a statement.

Meanwhile Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi on Thursday told the daily al-Sabbah that the government had purchased 50 million dollars' worth of additional 'sophisticated equipment' to detect explosives and weapons. The equipment was to arrive in early 2010.