40 Killed in Bombings, Shootings
Al-Hakim Seeks Shiite Federal Region
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim’s United Iraqi Alliance laid out plans Wednesday in parliament for the creation of a nine-province regional confederacy in the south. AFP reports that die-hard Sunni opposition to the plan appears to be fading. They seem to have been given representations by al-Hakim’s people that a central government with key prerogatives will be preserved.
Al-Zaman says that the plan will be voted on within 15 days.
Reuters reports on civil war violence:
‘ *BAGHDAD – Two people were killed and eight wounded when a bomb exploded near a funeral tent in Amel area in southwestern Baghdad. People had gathered there to mark the death of a supporter of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the Interior Ministry said.BAGHDAD – A car bomb killed eight people and wounded 38 in northern Baghdad’s Qahira district, police said. An Interior Ministry source who quoted hospital tallies said six people were killed in the bomb blast and 46 wounded. . .
BAGHDAD – Iraqi police found a further 15 [al-Zaman says 22] bodies throughout Baghdad on Wednesday, most were bound, blindfold with some showing signs of torture, police said.
SINJAR – A car bomb killed six members of Iraq’s border police and wounded six others in the northern town of Sinjar, close to the Syrian border, police said.
MOSUL – Gunmen killed two people from the Yezidi religious minority in the northern city of Mosul, police said. It was not clear whether they were targeted because of their beliefs. ‘