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10 killed in Baghdad bus bombing; 46 corpses found
At least 10 people were killed in a Baghdad bus bombing Monday. Police around the Iraqi capital also found 46 bullet-riddled corpses, many of them tortured, of men shot to death in apparent sectarian attacks, a security source said. The source said the bodies were recovered since early morning, with six found in Baghdad's northeastern Sunni neighbourhood of Ghazaliyah which has frequently been in conflict with the neighboring Shiite area of Shuala. A police commander kidnapped earlier the same day was among those killed, he said.

The violence followed Sunday's suicide attack on a bus near a church in northeast Baghdad that also wounded 17 people. Those killed in the bus included four women and an infant, a medic at nearby Sadr City's Imam Ali hospital said, adding that most of the corpses were charred beyond recognition.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it killed eight "terrorists" in multiple raids around Baghdad and detained another 41, while 10 bodies were recovered from Diyala, a flashpoint province north of Baghdad. Another 11 people were killed in a series of shootings around the country, including six in Baquba and a cameraman working for Sunni-owned satellite channel Sharqiya, shot dead in the northern city of Mosul.

On the political front, Shiite lawmaker Abbas al-Bayati said that "10 ministers are set to change." There are 37 ministers in the cabinet.
I just heard C. Northcote Parkinson snicker.
Bayati said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will in the next few days invite all political blocs to propose new names of "three candidates for each ministry," adding that the focus this time was "on efficient technocrats."
Rather than on religious affiliation?
Maliki on Sunday told a closed session of parliament that he wanted a "comprehensive cabinet reshuffle," virtually blaming the current ministries for the precarious security situation in war-ravaged Iraq.
"Idjits! I'm surrounded by idjits!"
Amid the pervasive insecurity, there have also been repeated complaints about government corruption, lack of services and ministries more interested in serving their political parties than the people. Some lawmakers, however, say that the reshuffle would be cosmetic unless a drastic policy shift was announced by the U.S. and Iraqi authorities. "The extent of the cabinet reshuffle depends on the agreement between the political blocs," said senior Kurdish politician Mahmud Othman. "While the change will bring better efficiency in running the government, I do not think it is going to help improve the situation. The situation is very complicated. A lot of time has been lost."

Othman called for a "formula between the Americans and the Iraqis that could include gradual withdrawal of troops," a key factor for stemming unrest, according to Sunni Arabs, apart from the rampaging Shiite militias.
Posted by: Fred 2006-11-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=171993