BAGHDAD — Suicide bombers in a crowded Baghdad commercial district and Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit killed as many as 33 people Sunday as insurgents tried to turn a months-long deadlock over forming a new Iraqi government to their advantage.
The latest violence began when bombers drove two cars packed with nearly 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate toward the gates of the Trade Bank of Iraq building in Baghdad and detonated the explosives after striking the surrounding blast walls, said Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi.
Al-Moussawi said at least 18 people were killed and 42 wounded. But three Iraqi police officials and a doctor at the Yarmouk hospital where many victims were taken put the toll at 28 killed and 57 wounded. Conflicting casualty tolls are common in the chaotic aftermath of bombings in Iraq.
Most of the dead were bank employees, according to witnesses and police at the scene.
Hours later, a man wearing an explosives vest blew himself up as police and onlookers responded to a roadside bomb apparently set as a trap in the northern city of Tikrit. At least five people were killed and 12 wounded in the late-night attack, according to police and hospital officials.
The attacks added weight to warnings that insurgents would try to foment unrest as politicians squabble over forming a new government more than three months after inconclusive national elections.
The explosions capped a week in which about 100 people were killed in bombings and shootings nationwide, including at least 26 who died in a commando-style assault against the central bank in Baghdad on June 13. An al-Qaida-in-Iraq front group, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for that attack, saying it targeted the institution responsible for funneling “oil money and the stolen wealth of Muslims” to the West.
“Al-Qaida is still operative, as we have seen in the past week,” said Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. “They want to show that they are still in business after the killing of their top leaders.”
Sectarian bloodshed that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007 has dropped sharply after a series of U.S.-Iraqi offensives, a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida and a Shiite militia cease-fire. But Iraqis still face near-daily attacks.
Many are venting their anger at politicians for failing to choose a prime minister and form a government, even though the new parliament was seated last week. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been acting in a caretaker role as he battles to keep his job after a rival Sunni-backed political bloc won a narrow victory in the March 7 parliamentary vote.
The head of the Iraqiya bloc, Ayad Allawi, has warned more violence could ensue if the Sunnis who backed him feel sidelined by a Shiite alliance between al-Maliki’s party and a hard-line religious group.
On Sunday, Allawi accused unidentified figures in the current government of being involved in a plot to kill him. He did not name the alleged culprits but provided an April 29 letter from the U.S. military to back up his contention that his life was in danger. He emphasized he did not think al-Maliki was involved.
Allawi said Sunday that he was warned the plot would be preceded by a government order barring all politicians from flying into and out of the Muthanna airfield, a restricted military base in Baghdad from which Allawi had traveled exclusively since 2004. The order came down last week.
In a statement, al-Maliki’s office ridiculed the notion of any ulterior motive behind shutting the Muthanna air base to public officials.
“Some sides tried to raise some suspicions about the government decision not allowing the civilian planes to land on the military airports. Therefore, we would like to clarify,” al-Maliki’s office said.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Abdullah, an engineer in the Electricity Ministry, said bickering politicians “have encouraged al-Qaida sleeper cells to resume work and strike again.”
“Ordinary Iraqis are paying the price of the political struggle in Baghdad,” he said.
Hassan al-Janabi, a 44-yearold hotel employee in Baghdad, said he has altered his routine to avoid crowded areas and rush hour traffic, which have been popular targets for insurgents seeking to maximize casualties.
“I believe the deteriorating security situation is connected to the political struggle and the fight between politicians over power and government,” he said. “I think that attacks will increase because regional countries will increase their interference in Iraq after the [coming] withdrawal of U.S. forces.”
The ability of insurgents to penetrate areas with tight security has raised questions about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over their own security less than three months before all American combat troops are to leave the country, the first step toward a full withdrawal by the end of next year.
The Trade Bank of Iraq is in a commercial area surrounding Nisoor Square that includes a government agency that issues national identification cards and the telephone exchange building. Established after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the bank is at the forefront of efforts to attract foreign investment.
Bank chairman Hussein al-Uzri said five guards were among the dead and six others were wounded. He blamed the attack on insurgents trying to undermine Iraq’s progress and promised they would fail.
“The work of building Iraq’s economic strength ... goes on uninterrupted, as does the work of the bank, which will be open for business tomorrow,” he said in a statement Sunday.
In other violence, police and morgue officials said the decomposed bodies of six women and a man were found buried in the backyard of a deserted house in the religiously mixed Zayouna neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. The seven victims apparently were killed two to three months ago, the officials said.
Two people were killed in a roadside bombing targeting the convoy of the police chief in Duluiyah, a former insurgent stronghold north of Baghdad, although the police chief was not harmed.
Information for this article was contributed by Kim Gamel, Sinan Salaheddin, Hamid Ahmed and Sameer N. Yacoub of The Associated Press; by Leila Fadel and Aziz Alwan of The Washington Post; and by Liz Sly, Usama Redha and Ned Parker of the Los Angeles Times.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/21/2010