(Baghdad) Three rockets fell Tuesday near the house of the speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mohammed al-Halboussi in the west of Baghdad, injuring two children, a few hours after the validation of the re-election of this Sunni official by justice.
Posted yesterday at 5:04 p.m.
The attack comes in a particularly charged political context in Iraq, where violence disputes it with invectives between officials, more than three months after the legislative elections of October 10 which consecrated the victory of the turbulent, but essential Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr.
Grenade attacks
In recent days, several grenade attacks have targeted parties — including Mr. Halboussi’s — that could team up with Moqtada Sadr to form a parliamentary coalition and eventually give Iraq a prime minister and a government.
The former Shiite paramilitaries of Hachd al-Chaabi, rivals of Mr. Sadr’s current and allies of Iran, had contested the results of the legislative elections, unhappy with their electoral setback.
The Katioucha-type rockets fell in the evening “500 meters” from Mr. Halboussi’s home in the locality of Gourma in the province of Al-Anbar, west of Baghdad, a senior official told AFP. security services.
IRAQI SECURITY FORCES PHOTO
The Iraqi army had shown Iranian Katyusha rockets seized in the Dora region, south of Baghdad, on August 5, 2020. This type of rocket is reputed to be inaccurate.
The attack “targeted” the Speaker of Parliament, he said on condition of anonymity, saying however that he did not know if Mr. Halboussi was at home at the time of the shooting.
Two children were injured and “transferred to Gourma hospital”, police said in a statement.
The attack was not immediately claimed.
Mohammed al-Halboussi, 41, is an influential political leader of the Sunni community, a minority in Iraq. He has chaired the unicameral Assembly since 2018.
The Supreme Court validated his re-election earlier on Tuesday, challenged by two deputies, during the inaugural session of Parliament on January 9.
This decision allows the resumption of the political process. Because neither the Head of State nor the Prime Minister have yet been chosen by the deputies, of whom this is one of the prerogatives.
Parliamentarians have until February 8 to elect the President of the Republic, a post which falls to a Kurd, while the Prime Minister must be from the Shiite community, the majority in Iraq.
Jostling and insults in Parliament
The post-election period was marked by very tense negotiations to form a parliamentary coalition capable of appointing a prime minister and a government and episodes of armed violence.
The inaugural session of Parliament, whose elected officials Mahmoud al-Machhadani and Bassem Khachan demanded the cancellation, was the scene of jostling and insults between the two most important Shiite camps.
The Moqtada Sadr current and the Coordination Framework, an agglomeration of parties, some of which are pro-Iran, each claim a majority capable of designating the prime minister.
The deputies of the Framework of coordination, judging that Mr. Halboussi is close to the camp of Sadr, had ended up leaving the hemicycle and boycotting the election of the president of the Parliament.
Moqtada Sadr intends to join forces with two Sunni parties, Taqadom (of Mr. Halboussi) and Azm, and with the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (PDK) to form a “majority government”.