Al Maliki sees attacks rising ahead of polls

Baghdad: Iraq's prime minister said on Saturday that insurgents will likely intensify their attacks in the run-up to January national elections in an attempt to destroy national unity and political stability.

A flurry of recent bombings has sparked fears that insurgents could re-ignite the sectarian fighting that nearly tore the country apart two years ago, while also raising questions about the ability of Iraqi security forces to maintain stability.

"Terrorists are increasing their attacks here and there because they recognise that we are about to have a political breakthrough," Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki told Shiite tribal members during a meeting in Baghdad.

"We have taken big steps during a difficult period, and there are still more steps to take to overcome the remaining obstacles," he said.

Al Maliki warned Iraqis there would be "decisive battles" with insurgents in the months leading up to the January elections when Iraqis will cast ballots for the 275-member parliament and prime minister.

Concerned

Al Maliki, a Shiite, has campaigned for re-election largely on the dramatic decline in violence in the last two years.

Iraqi and US officials believe that a recent spike in high-profile attacks is probably aimed at decreasing public confidence in the Iraqi security forces ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for January.

"We have to be very worried and concerned about this escalation," says Barham Saleh, Iraq's deputy prime minister, speaking by phone from Sulaimaniya.

"Many of us are concerned that this is aimed at disrupting the forthcoming elections. We have to recognise that there are political tensions that allow the terrorists to take advantage of fault-lines, either sectarian or ethnic, as a way of deepening the ethnic divide," says Dr Saleh, who is expected to become prime minister of the Kurdish Regional Government following Kurdish elections in July.

On Thursday, at least 20 people were killed and 31 injured in a suicide bombing near Mosul, most of them members of a small religious sect known as Yazidis. And in one of the deadliest attacks this year, two truck bombs detonated on Monday in a Kurdish-protected village also near Mosul, killing more than 30 people and injuring 130.

The Sunni Arab provincial governor said lack of Iraqi government security forces in the area allowed the bombing to happen. Monday's attack, like the majority of those since the US withdrew combat troops from cities on June 30 in line with a joint security agreement, have been aimed at Shiite targets.

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