Iraq parliament condemns bombers
MPs hold special session after Baghdad’s Green Zone suffers it most deadly attack.
Published On 13 Apr 2007
“The parliament, government and the people are all the same – they are all in the same ship which, if it sinks, will make everyone sink,” al-Mashhadani said.
Investigation launched
The session was poorly attended, as many Iraqi MP’s struggled to get to the meeting due to security measures in Baghdad and at the parliament itself.
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Politicians held a minute’s silence for those killed in the bombing and recited verses form the Quran.
Later in the session, parliamentarians placed a bouquet of red and white flowers on a seat that was formerly used by Mohammed Awad, a Sunni politician, who was killed in the attack.
The US and Iraq have begun an investigation into the blast.
Three cafeteria workers have been detained and the bodyguards of some parliamentarians are being questioned.
Al Jazeera was told that Iraqi security forces found two further devices outside the parliament building that were probably intended to be detonated as MPs were running away from the original blast.
‘Huge blast’
The explosion on Thursday took place in a canteen on the same floor as the 275-member national assembly’s main debating chamber.
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Awad, a member of parliament from the mainly Sunni National Dialogue Front, and Asif Hussein Muhammad, an MP from the Islamic Union of Kurdistan, were killed in the blast on the building’s first floor.
Three female MPs from Muqtada al-Sadr’s parliamentary list were wounded in the explosion, along with three members of the United Iraq Alliance, the main Shia bloc in the parliament, Al Jazeera reported.
Taha al-Lihaibi, Salman al-Jumaili, Hahim al-Ta’i and two other MPs from the Iraqi Accord Front were injured, another member of parliament told al Jazeera.
Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies