Iraq reconciliation talks hit by walkouts
Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:55am EDT Print This Article | Single Page[-] Text [+]
1 of 1Full SizeAlmost all of Iraq's major political groups had said they would take part in the conference, many expressing hope progress would be made this time because of the security gains.
In opening remarks to the conference, Maliki criticized those who had stayed away.
"We seriously regret that others will only stand watching, and others try to bring down the political progress and hamper the work of the government at a time when their patriotic duty requires them to help the government," Maliki said.
Attacks across Iraq have fallen by 60 percent since last June, the U.S. military says, when a build-up of an extra 30,000 U.S. troops became fully deployed.
But there has been an upsurge in violence, mainly suicide bombings, since January.
Iraqi security officials said the death toll from a bombing in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, on Monday had risen to at least 47, with another 75 wounded.
The U.S. military has blamed the attack on a suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives, although police said it was likely a roadside bomb planted outside a cafe.
(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Aws Qusay and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
