Updated at 8:22 p.m. EDT, Oct. 1, 2010
As of today, Iraq has spent 208 days without an elected government. It now stands as the country that has gone the longest between parliamentary elections and the formation of a new government. Meanwhile, at least eight Iraqis were killed and 14 more were wounded in light prayer day attacks across the country.
Iraq is on its 208th day without a new government, surpassing the Netherlands, which went without a government for 207 days in 1977. A coalition of Shi’ite parties, including the Sadrists, marked the occasion by announcing its support for incumbent Nouri al-Maliki‘s return as premier, but the Badr Organization and associated Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are positioning against Maliki. Iraqiya squeezed out a win against Maliki’s State of Law party, grabbing the most seats in March elections, but not enough to form a government on its own. Maliki still does not have enough seats to win, and it will likely be up to the Kurds to settle the deadlock.
In Baghdad, a blast at an Awakening Council (Sahwa) checkpoint killed three and wounded seven more, including worshippers from a nearby mosque. A sticky bomb wounded a civilian in Amiriya. A blast at a popular Jamiya sweets shop left an unknown amount of casualties. Gunmen killed one civilian and wounded two others yesterday in Camp Sara. Gunmen wounded a lt. colonel from the presidential guard.
In Mosul, gunmen killed two policemen in separate incidents. A bomb wounded two policemen in 17 Tammouz, while another blast killed a soldier in Sumer. A bomb targeting an Iraqiya M.P. left no casualties.
A sticky bomb targeting a senior police official in Mualameen wounded him and killed his guard.
Police arrested four suspects and seized explosives in Muqdadiya. Yesterday, several small bomb blasts left no casualties.
The provincial council in Basra held a special session on the police chief’s inability to protect them.
The deputy governor of Kirkuk claimed that Kurdish security forces were threatening Arab residents in hopes they would leave the city before the Oct. 24 census. Arabs and Turkmen do not want to see the census take place because of the sectarian tension associated with it. Many Kurdish Iraqis believe the city, which was traditionally Kurdish, should joing Iraqi Kurdistan.
