Suicide bomb kills Sunni Iraqi MP, six others
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | January 16, 2013 1:59
A suicide bomber killed a Sunni Iraqi MP and six others Tuesday, wrapping his arms around the lawmaker before blowing himself up, officials said, amid a political crisis engulfing the country.
The killing of Ayfan Saadun al-Essawi comes just two days after Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi, a fellow Sunni and a member of the same tribe and political bloc, escaped an apparent assassination attempt as his convoy was passing near where Tuesday’s attack took place.
It is likely to further enflame tensions with Iraq already grappling with a political crisis that has pitted Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against Essawi’s secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc.
Lawmaker Essawi, 37, had been inspecting a road under construction south of Fallujah at the time of the attack.
“The moment he stepped out of the car to check out this road between Fallujah and Amriyah, at this moment, there was a man,” said Sohaib Haqi, the lawmaker’s office chief. “He came to him, hugged him, said Allahu Akbar, and blew himself up.”
Doctor Assem al-Hamdani at Fallujah hospital put the overall toll at seven dead — Essawi, four of his bodyguards and two civilians — and six wounded, including four of the lawmaker’s guards.
Tuesday’s blast comes amid a political crisis in Iraq.
Weeks of anti-government demonstrations in Sunni Arab majority areas, supported by Iraqiya and other groups, have hardened opposition against Maliki, a Shiite.
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