In one of the deadliest attacks, a suicide car bomb detonated outside a police station near the provincial headquarters in Kut, about 100 miles south of
In
No group has yet taken responsibility, but Prime Minister
The U.S. military announced on Tuesday there were fewer than 50,000 troops left in
The U.S. has not conducted unilateral combat operations since an Iraq-U.S. security agreement took effect in June of last year, and it is scheduled to withdraw all troops from the country by the end of 2011.
The
The U.S. and Iraqi military have made significant inroads in dismantling the network of
West of
Car bombs in the southern cities of
Attacks had been expected to spike during the holy month of
“”We are facing a stagnant pond — there is nothing new but continuous meetings,”” says
Al-Maliki’s Shiite alliance, which forms the biggest coalition, appears to be in danger of fracturing over al-Maliki’s insistence that he lead any new government. As prime minister, he sent
Al-Iraqiya is headed by onetime prime minister
The Sadr bloc has indicated it could abandon al-Maliki’s coalition to align itself with the more secular al-Iraqiya coalition but al-Mulla described those talks as ‘vague’ and inconclusive.
Neither al-Maliki nor Allawi’s political blocs won enough seats in the election to form a majority in parliament.
“”The outcome of the election is complicated because there was no clear winner,”” says Foreign Minister