by Jamal Hashim

    BAGHDAD, April 12 (Xinhua) -- A new wave of deadly bombings struck Iraqi cities recently raising fears that the war-torn country could again go back to earlier stages of chaos and bloodshed.

    Within a week, the bombings targeted U.S. soldiers, Iraqi security forces and civilians in the areas of Baghdad, Mosul, Babel and Diyala, claiming the lives of hundreds of Iraqis.

    Five U.S. soldiers were killed Friday in the largest single loss of American life in Iraq in more than one year. A sixth U.S. soldier was also killed by roadside bomb Sunday in the latest violence.

    Although the death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq have remained relatively low in recent months, the toll among locals is creeping upward.

    The violence came only two months before U.S. combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraqi cities by a June 30 deadline, which challenges contentions by some Iraqi analysts and others that Iraqis on a path to stability and the planned U.S. forces pullout won't leave chaos in its wake.

    MALIKI GOVERNMENT FACING CHALLENGE

    The Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is struggling to grip security and stability gains that were achieved since 2007 through different means to face the challenges, including intensifying national reconciliation efforts and chasing suspected militiamen.

    The prime minister blamed, in a statement issued by his office on Monday, the Saddam Hussein's Baath Party members and al-Qaida militants for the recent wave of car bombings and described the bombings as "a gift of the disbanded Baath Party on the ill omen of its anniversary."

    April 7 was the anniversary of the founding of the Baath Party, which ruled Iraq from 1968 until the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

    "The followers of the destroyed regime have planted death and destruction in neighborhoods of our beloved city, with the cooperation of the terrorist al-Qaida organization," he said.

    "They're trying to stir up sectarian unrest and instability," Maliki added without providing specific evidence to link the bombings to the Baath Party members, but he noted that such attacks usually occur every April 7 since Saddam Hussein was toppled.

    Earlier, a spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry said that the latest attacks have links with the latest series of arrests of ranking members of Sunni militiamen, known as the Awakening Council.

    The Awakening Council groups are mostly anti-U.S. Sunni insurgent groups who were active in the area with the al-Qaida in Iraq network, but the groups turned their rifles against al-Qaida militants and are now providing security to their areas.

    "We are considering all the probabilities to identify the perpetrators of the recent attacks," Major General Abdul Kareem Kalaf said.

    IMPACTS OF RECENT BOMBINGS ON U.S. TROOPS WITHDRAWAL

    Continuing violence in Iraqi cities has raised concerns about Obama's plan to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by August 31, 2010, and maintain some 35,000 to 50,000 soldiers in the country for anti-terrorism duties.

    "I've made it clear to my commanders that we need to be flexible but focused on training and equipping Iraqi security forces so that they can take the lead," Obama told reporters in Baghdad on Tuesday. "The drawdown will ultimately result in the removal of all U.S. troops by 2011."

    However, Obama had emphasized that his troops withdrawal from Iraq must be done in responsible way and avoid Iraq's collapse into violence.

    U.S. top commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, warned in an interview with the Times this week that his troops' withdrawal could be delayed beyond the deadline of June 30 in the troubled cities like Mosul and Baquba in Diyala province as long as al-Qaida retains active and presence there.

    Nevertheless, Odierno expressed his confidence that overall timetable for the U.S. troops pullout would be met.

    "The two areas I am concerned with are Mosul and then Baquba and other parts of Diyala province. We will conduct assessments," he said.

    "We won't see a large reduction in any forces in Mosul or Diyala. In fact we might see reinforcement in those areas if we continue to have issues," added the U.S. general.

    POLITICAL MOTIVES BEHIND

    Iraqi analysts see that the latest wave of bombings has political motives and is part of political struggle among Iraqi factions months ahead of the country's landmark parliamentary elections at the end of the year.

    "I think those who committed the attacks are only following orders of some political parties," Sabah al-Sheikh, teacher of politics in Baghdad University told Xinhua.

    "Those parties are showing their keenness to depict Maliki's government paralyzed and a fail ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections, particularly after Shiite party backed by Maliki made striking winning in the provincial elections early in the year," Sheikh said.

    "I expect more of such attacks in the coming months," he added.

    Unlike Sheikh, an Iraqi Army brigadier who refused to be named insisted that Iraq is on the right path of stability and the latest wave of bombings would not bring Iraq into chaos again.

    "Things are largely better than the past years despite the latest attacks. You can't guarantee 100 percent of security, but in comparing with the past years after the invasion, the results are pretty good," said the officer.

    "I would say that situations now are relatively calm, thanks to the better performance of our national security forces and to the people who laid down their arms after they realized that there are other means to build new Iraq away from arms," he said.

Five U.S. soldiers killed in truck bombing in Iraq's Mosul

    BAGHDAD, April 10 (Xinhua)-- At least eight people including five U.S. soldiers were killed and 60 others were injured in a suicide truck bombing in the northern city of Mosul, according to U.S. military and Iraqi source.

    A suicide truck bomber detonated bomb in front of a police station in the southern part of the city and most of the victims are policemen, according to the source. Full story