Iraq attacks cast a pall over Arab summit in Baghdad

By Ramadan Al-Fatash Feb 23, 2012, 13:38 GMT

Baghdad - A string of deadly car bombings and shootings that rocked several Iraqi areas on Thursday could not have been more ill-timed.

The apparently synchronized attacks, which targeted mostly Shiite districts and police personnel in 19 areas around Iraq, according to the Interior Ministry, occurred as the country prepares for an annual Arab League summit due to be held in the capital Baghdad on March 29.

Baghdad itself was the scene of 11 explosions on Thursday, according to security sources. At least 50 people were killed in the attacks, the deadliest in two months.

More than 70 people were killed in December in a spate of bombings in Baghdad, just days after US troops completed withdrawal from Iraq.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's assaults.

But in a statement, the Interior Ministry accused al-Qaeda and unnamed 'other' powers of being behind the attacks to 'incite sectarian and political tensions in Iraq and undermine the national economy.'

Ali al-Shala, a lawmaker, claimed that a key aim of the attacks was to derail Iraq's plan to host the Arab League summit.

'These blasts are terrorist acts designed to give the impression that Iraq is not ready to host the summit,' said al-Shala, who is close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

'But these terrorist acts will not discourage Iraq from holding the summit as scheduled,' he told dpa.

The summit is the first pan-Arab gathering to be held in Iraq since 1990.

The Arab League was forced last May to postpone its annual conference in Baghdad due to turmoil in several Arab countries.

In an apparent bid to encourage Arab leaders to attend the March 29 gathering, al-Maliki's government has spent around 450 million dollars on preparation, including security and infrastructure, according to local media.

The summit is to be preceded by meetings of Arab foreign and economy ministers.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari reportedly used a recent meeting of the Arab League on Syria in Cairo to call on Arab governments to send top-level representatives to the summit.

The pan-Arab organization has also thrown its weight behind the plan to hold the summit in Baghdad.

'Iraq is capable of holding a successful Arab summit. The event is set to propel Iraq back onto the stage of Arab action,' Ahmed bin Heli, the deputy chief of the Arab League, told reporters in Baghdad earlier this month.

However, just one month before it is due to take place, not a single Arab country has officially announced its participation at the summit.

Al-Maliki's Shiite-led government is eager to use the gathering to prove it is in control of the country after the US pullout and to send a similar message to its rivals in Iraq, say observers.

A crisis erupted in December between al-Maliki and two Sunni Muslim political rivals, triggering political tensions between the Shiite majority and the Sunni minority.

Al-Maliki has urged authorities in semi-autonomous Kurdistan in the north to hand over the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi to face trial in Baghdad for his alleged involvement in plotting attacks near parliament last November.

Al-Maliki claimed the November attacks were intended to target him.

Al-Hashemi, the country's most important Sunni official, has refused to appear before a court in Baghdad, doubting the possibility of a just trial.

'Al-Hashemi's recent statements questioning the integrity of the Iraqi justice system have given the green light to terrorists to carry out their dastardly acts,' said parliamentarian al-Shala on Thursday.

Al-Maliki has also fallen out in public with his deputy, Saleh al-Mutlaq, who compared the Shiite premier to Saddam Hussein.

Both al-Hashemi and al-Mutlaq belong to the Iraqiya Bloc, which has a strong Sunni following.

Al-Maliki's moves have been interpreted by the Sunni minority as an attempt to consolidate Shiite control of the government after the US withdrawal.