A suicide bomber drove a bomb-laden vehicle into the open gates of the Iraqi Interior Ministry on Monday, killing at least five people and wounding an additional 39. This follows attacks on Thursday that took 60 lives in Baghdad, the deadliest day in Iraq since August.

US President Joe Biden has made several calls to Iraqi officials in the last week to encourage dialogue between opposing Iraqi politicians in an effort to remove the political deadlock that followed the final departure of US troops in December.

Backers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Monday that the country's Council of Representatives should dissolve parliament and repeat elections.

The Sadrists' bloc, as they are called, is partners in a Shiite-led government coalition with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Government conflicts

Maliki is also involved in some conflict within the government. His Sunni Vice President, Tarey al-Hashemi, has been charged with using personal bodybuards to attack government officials. Hashemi denies the accusations, and his deputy, Saleh al-Mutlak, has described Maliki as a dictator "worse than Saddam Hussein."

Despite the tense political situation in Iraq, the United Nations top envoy to Iraq, German diplomat Martin Kobler, does not believe Iraq is headed for civil war.

In an interview with the Berlin daily Taggesspiegel, Kobler was quoted as saying that because Iraq now has some of its own security forces, "they are in a far better state than some years ago. There will be no breakup of Iraq."

Author: Matt Zuvela (AFP, Reuters, AP)
Editor: Ben Knight