Iraq Watch: May 30, 2006

Violence in Iraq Claims Over 50 Lives

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Violence throughout Iraq Tuesday claimed over 50 lives as Iraqi politicians struggled to agree on two key ministry vacancies, defense and interior.

Tuesday's deadliest attack occurred north of Baghdad in Husseiniyah where a car bomb exploded near a busy market. At least 25 Iraqis were killed and 65 injured in the early-evening blast.

South of the capital, in Hillah, 12 people died and over 30 were wounded when a car packed with explosives detonated near an auto dealership.

In Baghdad itself, insurgents launched a barrage of mortars at the heavily guarded Interior Ministry building killing two and wounding three. The mortars, rigged to a car parked nearby, were fired remotely according to the AP.

Late Tuesday, nine Iraqis were killed and 10 injured in a bombing at an eastern Baghdad bakery.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced that a U.S. soldier assigned to the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team was killed yesterday by small-arms fire in Mosul.

CENTCOM also announced Tuesday that it has ordered approximately 1,500 troops from the 1st Armored Division to the volatile Anbar province. The reservists' troops were stationed in nearby Kuwait.

Anbar province, which encompasses much of western Iraq, has long been a bastion of support for the nations Sunni-dominated insurgency. The U.S. military along with Iraqi forces have launched numerous operations in the restive province over the past three years in an effort to quell the largely unmitigated violence there.

In political developments, Iraqi lawmakers continue to wrangle over who will head the contentious Interior and Defense Ministries.

According to published reports, Iraq's minority Sunnis have been promised the Defense Ministry while the majority Shiites will garner the Interior Ministry. The bickering has arisen over which candidates the two sects will present.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has stated previously that as the leader of Iraq he has the power to insert his own candidates for the positions if parliament is unable to agree on their own.

Also Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates announced that Naji Rashid al-Nuaimi – a UAE diplomate seized earlier this month – has been freed by his captors. Al-Nuaimi was abducted May 16 from Baghdad's upscale Mansour district. The previously unknown group "Banner of Islam" claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.