40 Shias killed in third Iraq pilgrim attack within week

TWIN CAR bombs yesterday killed at least 40 Shia pilgrims and injured 145 as they walked into the holy city of Karbala, southeast of Baghdad. This was the third fatal attack on pilgrims this week.

On Wednesday, 23 people died and 140 were wounded not far from the site of yesterday’s attack, and on Monday a woman killed 41 and wounded 100 when she exploded a device in a group of pilgrims assembling north of the capital for the trek to Karbala.

The latest strike was timed to disrupt the climax of the pil- grimage marking the end of the 40-day mourning period for Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who was slain in 680 AD during a bitter power struggle which has divided the Muslim world since then.

Although 30,000 Iraqi police and troops had been deployed to protect pilgrims, the government of prime minister Nuri al-Maliki was accused of failing to provide security. Al-Qaeda and the ousted Baath party were promptly blamed by officials, but some observers suggested that Mr Maliki’s Shia electoral rivals could be responsible.

The violence against Shia pilgrims coincided with rising ten- sions between the Shia-dominated government and secularists and Sunnis over the exclusion from the March 7th parliamentary election of 500 candidates accused of being loyal to the outlawed Baath party.

On Wednesday, an appeals panel lifted the ban but decided that those elected could not take up seats until cleared of Baathist ties. The de-Baathification panel, which drew up the list of disqualified candidates, condemned US vice-president Joe Biden for suggesting the compromise and accused Washington of meddling in Iraq’s affairs.

The government branded the panel’s decision unconstitutional, appealed for a ruling to the supreme court, and called upon parliament to debate the issue tomorrow.

Among the banned candidates are popular figures who, if allowed to stand, could enable a secular coalition headed by former premier Ayad Allawi to win enough seats to become kingmaker.

Mr Allawi might even have a chance to return to the premiership. Even if some winners on his list were prevented from assuming seats, these could be taken up by fellow coalition candidates. Therefore, the post-election balance of power could favour secularists whom the ruling Shia religious factions – now divided into two competing camps – had sought to sideline with the banning order.