Shiite politicians failed Tuesday to resolve the deadlock over the formation of the new Iraqi government after meeting to discuss the opposition of Sunni and Kurdish parties to the Shiite nominee for prime minister. A Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutlaq, told the London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that Iraq would “drown in a river of blood” if a new government is not formed soon. Sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims has threatened to push the country into all-out civil war.
In the Sadr City section of Baghdad, a bomb left on a minibus exploded, killing three people and wounding four, police said.
In the southern city of Basra, gunmen shot dead a Sunni professor as he was leaving his house Tuesday morning. In the capital, a mortar round hit a home in northern Baghdad, killing a man and wounding four members of his family, and gunmen killed a metal worker in the southwest Shurta neighborhood, police said.
In the outskirts of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, gunmen killed a policeman on his way to work. Police on Tuesday also discovered five corpses dumped in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, and the body of a woman with an Iranian passport was found in a gutter in the city of Baqouba, with bruises to her head, police said.
Al-Jaafari has refused to step aside. Shiite leaders fear that forcing him out will fragment their alliance.
A three-member Shiite committee met Monday with Sunni politicians, who insisted they would never accept al-Jaafari and urged the Shiites to present another candidate. Kurdish leaders delivered the same message during a meeting with the Shiites on Sunday.
Sunnis and Kurds blame al-Jaafari for the rise in sectarian tensions and for a high-handed leadership style since he assumed office last year.