Iraq Watch: December 20, 2005

Violence Persists as Sunnis Protest Vote Results

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The main Sunni political bloc in Iraq protested the electoral results in the nations parliamentary elections held last Thursday. The Iraqi Accordance Front, which is comprised of three prominent Sunni political groups and is headed by Adnan al-Dulaimi. In a press conference the group called the voting results "fraudulent" and further went on to state that there would be "grave repercussions on security and political stability" if the mistakes they claimed were not corrected.

Preliminary results released yesterday showed the conservative Shiite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), leading by a wide margin. Final voting tabulations are not expected to be released until early January.

Following a relative lull in bloodshed - due to increased security measures implemented during the election period - violence flared throughout Iraq for a third straight day on Tuesday.

Outside of the former insurgent-held city of Fallujah, a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol discovered the executed bodies of 14 people, many of whom were handcuffed and bore signs of torture.

In the capital itself, insurgents attacked two separate convoys of supply trucks transferring goods for the U.S. military. According to Reuters, at least two truck drivers were killed in the ambush on Baghdad's al-Adel highway.

Also Tuesday, Jordanian authorities announced that gunmen had abducted Mahmoud Suleiman Saidat, a driver for the Jordanian Embassy. Saidat was kidnapped near his residence in Baghdad's Sadiya district.