Boy, 13, killed by roadside bomb on way to school

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy was killed by a roadside bomb as he walked to school in the southern city of Basra, one of more than 20 victims of violence that continued to rattle Iraq yesterday as political leaders remained deadlocked over a new government.

At least one mortar round also slammed to earth within 50 yards of firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s home in the holy city of Najaf. The popular, anti-American Shi’ite leader was at home but not hurt, an aide said.

A child and at least one guard were wounded in the attack.

Shortly after the attack, the cleric issued a statement calling for calm.

“I call upon all brothers to stay calm and I call upon the Iraqi army to protect the pilgrims as the Nawasib (militants) are aiming to attack Shi’ites everyday,” he said, referring to Wednesday’s commemoration marking the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

Al-Sadr is a major force among Shi’ites, especially in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum. His militia is accused of carrying out sectarian revenge killings after the February 22 bombing of another important Shi’ite shrine in Samarra.

Also yesterday, police found 30 bodies, most of them beheaded, in a village 40 miles north of Baghdad.

Police said the motive for the killings was unclear, but most of the victims had been shot.

The bomb that killed the teenage boy went off as children were arriving for class in the centre of Basra, about 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

In the capital, a bomb exploded in front of a house in the central neighbourhood of Karradah, killing a woman and wounding three people, and a truck driver was gunned down in west Baghdad, police said.

Police also discovered 13 handcuffed and bullet-riddled bodies, victims of execution-style killings. Ten were dumped in south Baghdad’s Dora neighbourhood, another in the northern district of Hurriyah and two in the city of Baquoba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Security guards for the Iraqi finance minister were attacked while driving in western Baghdad before they had picked up the minister.

One guard was killed, and a bystander wounded, police said. Several gunmen killed a policeman and his cousin as they walked in an area 15 miles north of Baquoba, and a farmer was killed in the nearby town of Buhriz, police said.

The violence followed a visit on Saturday by a group of US politicians who voiced alarm about rising sectarian violence in Iraq and told Iraqi leaders they needed to urgently form a national unity government.

It was the second high-level US delegation in less than a week to deliver the same stark message to Iraqi politicians as the Bush administration steps up pressure to overcome the political impasse that threatens to scuttle hopes to start a US troop pullout this summer.

“We need very badly to form this unity government as soon as possible,” Senator John McCain said at a news conference after meeting with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. “We all know the polls show declining support among the American people.”