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| Iraq |
| Govt negligence blamed for Iraqi MPs murder |
| 2010-05-26 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Relatives and colleagues of an Iraqi MP gunned down outside his home blamed government negligence for his death as the lawmaker, from ex-premier Iyad Allawi's bloc, was buried on Tuesday. Security forces arrested one man in connection with the assassination of Bashar Hamid al-Agaidi, who was ambushed outside his home in the main northern city of Mosul and died of his wounds in hospital, the first such murder since parliamentary elections in March which have yet to result in a new government. "This is a terrorist act -- where were the security forces and where was the government?" said Mohammed al-Agaidi, the MP's cousin, after his burial in al-Areij, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Mosul. "This all happened because of the delays in the formation of the government. There is a security vacuum in the country... It is a great loss for Iraqis, he was a very good man and a leader in the Mosul community." While Allawi's Iraqiya bloc won the March 7 election with 91 seats in the 325-member parliament, no group has yet assembled the parliamentary majority necessary to form a government. "We asked the government to provide protection for our candidates before the elections, but the government refused," Osama al-Nujaifi, the head of the Sunni Arab al-Hadbaa faction of which Agaidi was a member, told AFP. "Negligence on the part of the government led to this situation. We accuse the government of being negligent, and the terrorists of carrying out this crime." The al-Hadbaa faction is centerd around Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, and is a part of Allawi's Iraqiya bloc. Agaidi's uncle Nadhim Mahmoud al-Agaidi, however, partially blamed Nujaifi and the Iraqiya list, saying: "Osama al-Nujaifi has dozens of guards but Bashar had only two men. "They have badges for their weapons, but they were not accepted by Nineveh security forces. Is that right?" Nujaifi said two people had been detained in connection with the killing, but Iraqi security forces said only one had been captured. |
| Posted by:Fred |