Roadside Bombing in Iraq Strikes Convoy Carrying U.N. Diplomat
Source: NYT
BAGHDAD — A roadside bomb struck the convoy of the top United Nations representative to Iraq on Tuesday after he had finished a meeting with the country’s senior Shiite cleric to discuss the continuing political deadlock, officials said.
The diplomat, Ad Melkert, escaped unharmed, but one Iraqi police officer was killed and three others were wounded in the blast, which tore through their vehicle around 4 p.m. as the convoy drove to the airport outside the southern city of Najaf.
A United Nations spokeswoman, Randa Jamal, said she did not know whether Mr. Melkert had been the target of the attack. Iraqi security officials said the bombers were aiming at the Najaf police chief, who was part of the escort.
Mr. Melkert told Al Arabiya, a satellite news channel, that the attack was a shock, but did not say whether he thought he was its target, Agence France-Presse reported.
In 2003, Sergio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian diplomat, was among 22 people killed in a huge truck bombing of the United Nations compound in Baghdad. The attack exposed a stark new danger for foreign diplomatic workers in Iraq, and contributed to the United Nations’ decision to scale back its presence sharply as violence deepened.
While roadside bombings occur daily in Iraq — there were at least six reports of roadside attacks throughout the country on Tuesday — they are far less common in Najaf, a relatively peaceful Shiite holy city where Mr. Melkert traveled to meet with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a powerful Shiite spiritual leader.
After a three-hour meeting in Ayatollah Sistani’s offices, Mr. Melkert would not comment on what the men discussed. He urged Iraq’s politicians to end the stalemate that has gone on since parliamentary elections last March failed to hand a majority to any political bloc. Iraqi and foreign officials worry about rising levels of violence and unrest amid the power vacuum.
Despite his widespread influence among thousands of Iraq’s Shiite Muslims, Ayatollah Sistani has remained all but silent during the postelection political jockeying. He urged Iraqis to vote in the elections but refused to throw his support behind any electoral coalition.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose political coalition finished narrowly behind the leading vote-getter, has gained the support of Moktada al-Sadr, an anti-American Shiite cleric, and has spent the last week traveling to Jordan and Iran to shore up support for his bloc.
A spate of killings aimed at security officials, their families and members of the American-allied Sunni Awakening Councils continued elsewhere in Iraq on Tuesday. In Tikrit, a bomb leveled the home of a local police official’s father, killing 11 people, including the police official’s father and brother. The Associated Press reported that a 6-month-old girl was also killed.
An Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Najaf.
BAGHDAD — A roadside bomb struck the convoy of the top United Nations representative to Iraq on Tuesday after he had finished a meeting with the country’s senior Shiite cleric to discuss the continuing political deadlock, officials said.
Alaa Al-Marjani/Associated Press
Ad Melkert, center, a United Nations diplomat, escaped a blast that left an Iraqi dead.
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A United Nations spokeswoman, Randa Jamal, said she did not know whether Mr. Melkert had been the target of the attack. Iraqi security officials said the bombers were aiming at the Najaf police chief, who was part of the escort.
Mr. Melkert told Al Arabiya, a satellite news channel, that the attack was a shock, but did not say whether he thought he was its target, Agence France-Presse reported.
In 2003, Sergio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian diplomat, was among 22 people killed in a huge truck bombing of the United Nations compound in Baghdad. The attack exposed a stark new danger for foreign diplomatic workers in Iraq, and contributed to the United Nations’ decision to scale back its presence sharply as violence deepened.
While roadside bombings occur daily in Iraq — there were at least six reports of roadside attacks throughout the country on Tuesday — they are far less common in Najaf, a relatively peaceful Shiite holy city where Mr. Melkert traveled to meet with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a powerful Shiite spiritual leader.
After a three-hour meeting in Ayatollah Sistani’s offices, Mr. Melkert would not comment on what the men discussed. He urged Iraq’s politicians to end the stalemate that has gone on since parliamentary elections last March failed to hand a majority to any political bloc. Iraqi and foreign officials worry about rising levels of violence and unrest amid the power vacuum.
Despite his widespread influence among thousands of Iraq’s Shiite Muslims, Ayatollah Sistani has remained all but silent during the postelection political jockeying. He urged Iraqis to vote in the elections but refused to throw his support behind any electoral coalition.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose political coalition finished narrowly behind the leading vote-getter, has gained the support of Moktada al-Sadr, an anti-American Shiite cleric, and has spent the last week traveling to Jordan and Iran to shore up support for his bloc.
A spate of killings aimed at security officials, their families and members of the American-allied Sunni Awakening Councils continued elsewhere in Iraq on Tuesday. In Tikrit, a bomb leveled the home of a local police official’s father, killing 11 people, including the police official’s father and brother. The Associated Press reported that a 6-month-old girl was also killed.
An Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Najaf.
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