THE political impasse over Iraq’s new government tightened yesterday as Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s party indicated it was standing firm for him to keep the post despite opposition from Sunni Arabs and Kurds.

A CAR BOMB killed at least 22 people in Baghdad yesterday, hours after Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari angrily dismissed US warnings to shun sectarianism in the country’s new government.

Up to 13 people are believed to have died in an explosion outside the main mosque in Baghdad’s southern Dora district.