Iraq Watch: March 31, 2006

Sporadic Violence Speckled Across Country

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A day after U.S. journalist Jill Carroll was released some three months after she was abducted, sporadic insurgent violence was reported across Iraq Friday.

In the capital city, a mortar round killed three women early Friday when it slammed into the northeastern Gaylani neighborhood.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, authorities discovered the executed bodies of six men in the western Jamaa district of the violence-plagued city.

Three car bombs went off in the notorious Dora neighborhood of the capital city killing at least one person. Additionally, seven people were wounded in the multiple blasts, which took place almost instantaneously near an outdoor market place.

Near the restive city of Baqouba, the provincial capital of Diyala province, gunmen killed at least five members of a Shiite family when they opened fire on their car according to AFP.

In the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, an Iraqi policeman was slain by armed insurgents.

Just south of the capital, guerillas detonated an explosive device underneath a mjor oil pipeline sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air.

Meanwhile, on the tumultuous political front, the BBC reports that Iraqi leaders have resumed talks on forming a government following a two-day respite.

One of the most continuous issues surrounding the formation of a unity government is that of prime minister.

Current Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari – already re-nominated for a second term by his political bloc, the powerful Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) – has come under increased pressure as of late to step aside due to his decisiveness.

The main power broker in the formation of an Iraqi government, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, has reportedly urged key politicians into persuading al-Jaafari to drop out of the bidding for a second term. This perceived meddling in Iraqi politics has drawn the ire of some of al-Jaafari's supporters.

On Friday, one of Iraq's most powerful Shiite leaders, Mohammed al-Yacoubi, called for the resignation of Khalizad stating: "It (the United States) should not yield to terrorist blackmail and should not be deluded or misled by spiteful sectarians. It should replace its ambassador to Iraq if it wants to protect itself from further failures."