Two dead after minibus bomb explodes near offices of anti-US cleric

A BOMB hidden in a minibus exploded near the offices of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in eastern Baghdad yesterday, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding three, police said.

The minibus had just pulled to the side of the street in a market about 400 yards from al-Sadr’s offices, said witness Naim Madkour. It had been picking up passengers but he couldn’t see if it had any inside at the time of the blast.

One man fled from the minibus just before it blew up, Mr Madkour said.

Iraqis often ride around the capital by paying small fees to privately owned minibuses.

The explosion at 11:45am in the mostly Shi’ite Sadr city damaged nearby storefronts, which were closed. There were few people in the street because the market opens in the evening.

The bomb, hidden in a plastic bag, killed two Iraqi civilians and wounded three, said police Lt Ahmed Mohammed.

Al-Sadr controls the Mahdi Army that has been blamed for a wave of sectarian kidnappings and killings in Baghdad and other cities in the last few months.

He has refused to disband the group unless other militias are abolished and the army and police prove capable of protecting Shi’ites from Sunni extremists.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, police found the bodies of two Iraqi men who apparently had been tortured and killed in captivity.

The latest deaths brought to more than 70 the number of Iraqis reported killed in insurgency or sectarian-related violence since Jawad al-Maliki was chosen on Saturday to head a national unity government.

Political parties met separately in Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone to discuss proposed cabinet ministers.

Mr al-Maliki, a Shi’ite, has 30 days from April 22 to present his cabinet to parliament for majority approval.

A top Shi’ite official, Ridha Jawad Taqi, said he expected the line-up to be finalized within 15 days.

In other violence yesterday, two roadside bombs — one targeting a US military convoy and the other an Iraqi police patrol — exploded in Baghdad, wounding three Iraqis, officials said.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb wounded an Iraqi policeman, and a Kurdish civilian was killed in a drive-by shooting as he was leaving his home, in Mosul, said police Maj Gen Wathiq Mohammed.