Attacks in Iraq, the deadliest of which struck Baghdad, killed 32 people today, pushing the death toll for this month above 600 and sparking fears of all-out sectarian conflict.
The United Nations has called for Iraq’s leaders to urgently hold talks to resolve wide-ranging political disputes that have been linked to the surge in unrest.
But the government’s public response has so far largely been limited to speeches, a shakeup of senior security officers and announcing a series of vague new measures relating to security.
“I am seriously concerned,” UN envoy to Iraq Martin Kobler told AFP by telephone from Berlin.
“This can get worse, and that’s why I strongly advocate that this bloodletting is stopped and the situation does not deteriorate.”
He added: “If there is a political agreement, then security will be better. We see it on the contrary right now — there is no political agreement, and sectarian violence is on the rise.”
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari echoed those remarks, telling reporters at a news conference in Baghdad: “If there is no political agreement, then it will affect security, and there won’t be a stable security situation.
“This is a golden rule.”
Analysts and diplomats often link political stability in Iraq to levels of violence, arguing that militants capitalise on political disagreements and disputes to gain support for their activities on the ground.
Amid all the statements and pronouncements, the violence has intensified.
Today, six car bombs and two other explosions in Baghdad killed 23 people and wounded at least 79, security and medical officials said.
Two border policemen were ambushed and killed along the main Iraq-Jordan highway, while three policemen were killed in a suicide car bombing in the northern city of Mosul, and four more people died in another such attack west of the city.
Violence a day earlier, including the bombing of a bridal party in south Baghdad, killed 28 people. Security forces today barred journalists from attending the funeral for victims of the wedding party assault.
A further 46 people died in unrest on Tuesday.
The latest attacks took to 607 the number of people killed in May, with more than 1,000 having died in less than two months, according to AFP figures based on reports by security and medical sources.
The tolls are still markedly lower than the worst of Iraq’s sectarian conflict in 2006 and 2007, when death tolls could run to well over 1,000 people a month, but they represent a substantial increase on previous months.