IRAQ: Guerrilla attacks killed at least 12 people in Iraq yesterday as a resurgence in violence piled pressure on politicians struggling to form a government more than 11 weeks after elections.
In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed four National Guards in the Athamiya district, police and hospital officials said, and 38 people were wounded. It was the latest in a string of car bombings in the capital in the past week.
Another suicide car bomber detonated next to a US army convoy travelling close to the international airport, and locals said there were many casualties. West of the capital, insurgents fired on members of Iraq's National Guard in Khaldiya, killing five people and wounding four, police said.
Near Haditha, another violent city on the river Euphrates northwest of the capital, residents said US warplanes bombed a suspected insurgent hideout. A local doctor said two people were killed and three wounded.
Suicide bombings and shootings have killed hundreds of members of the Iraqi security forces and police in recent months, raising concerns that the people who are supposed to protect Iraqis can't even protect themselves.
Gunmen also killed a Baghdad University professor yesterday, riddling his car with bullets as he drove to work. While insurgents frequently kill members of the security forces because they see them as co-operating with US troops, there are no clear reasons why dozens of university professors have been shot or kidnapped over the past two years.
In a sign of the growing cynicism of Iraqis towards their elected leaders, people have accused politicians of fabricating a hostage crisis in a town south of Baghdad for political ends.
Shia politicians said Sunni insurgents were holding hostage up to 150 Shias and were threatening to kill them unless Shias left the area. However raids in the town by Iraqi forces have failed to produce kidnappers or hostages.
Suicide bombings have returned to the high levels seen over the past two years at a volatile time, as leaders try to form a government that balances sectarian interests.
Iraqi officials fear the longer it takes to form a government, the more encouragement insurgents will take from the indecision, allowing them to exploit the political vacuum.