Wave of attacks in Iraq kill at least 43

They say the deadliest of Monday’s bombings was carried out by a suicide bomber who blew up himself among Shiite worshippers who were leaving a mosque after noon prayers in the capital’s eastern New Baghdad area, killing at least 15 people and wounding 32 others.

That was followed by back-to-back car bombings in cities south of Baghdad. In Karbala, the explosion killed 12 civilians and wounded 31 others. In Hillah, two car bombs went off in separate areas, killing 11 people and wounding 26 others. Five others were also killed in two separate attacks in Baghdad.

Medical officials confirmed the causality figures, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The attacks came as prime minister-designate called on the country’s numerous Shiite militias and tribes to come under government control and stop acting independently, adding that discussions between political rivals to form a new government were “constructive and positive.”

The comments by Haider Al Abadi came at his first press conference since accepting the nomination to be Iraq’s next prime minister, underlining how he is attempting to address the worries of the country’s Sunnis, who say that Shiite militias are targeting them in religiously-mixed areas.

“We will never allow any armed group to operate outside of the framework of the state,” Al Abadi told reporters at the presidential palace in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. “They all should be within the state framework and under the control of the security forces,” said Al Abadi.

A number of Shiite militias have answered a call by influential Iraq-based Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, and outgoing Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki to support the Iraqi military, after large divisions fled from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit. A number of Sunni tribes also oppose the militant group.

Al Abadi also said that dialogues between political rivals to form the new government “were constrictive and positive,” expressing optimism that he will meet the September 10 deadline to form a new government.   AP