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BAGHDAD, Sept 26: Gunmen dressed as policemen shot dead five teachers and a driver in their school south of Baghdad on Monday, and a suicide bomber killed 10 people when he rammed a bus full of oil ministry employees. Teachers have so far been largely spared from the violence that has engulfed Iraq.
“These men were terrorists in police uniform,” a spokesman for Babel police said after the teachers were killed in the town of Iskandariya.
He said the gunmen arrived at the school in two civilian cars, led the teachers and the school driver to a part of the school where no children were present, and shot them.
Earlier, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying oil ministry employees as it passed a police academy in Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 30.
“We heard the blast. They died,” said a dazed survivor, who stood in a hospital as victims of the blast were wheeled in on stretchers.
He said the bus was carrying employees of a state oil exploration company. It was not immediately clear whether Monday’s bomber was targeting police or the oil ministry. Police were not able to say how many of the dead and wounded were policemen and how many were from the ministry.
Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al Uloum told reporters he believed the bomber had aimed the attack at his staff.
“Unfortunately these terrorist operations continue to target innocents,” he said.
Violence has been escalating across the country in the run-up to the Oct 15 vote on a new constitution.
WARNINGS OVER CONSTITUTION: Sunnis, who make up about 20 per cent of the population, fear that if the charter is approved it will marginalize them even more by granting broad autonomy to Shias in line with that already enjoyed by Kurds, including control of oil revenues.
Many have vowed to ensure the constitution is rejected. A campaign of ethnic and sectarian killings has led to fears Iraq’s fragmented communities are sliding towards civil war.
Former prime minister Iyad Allawi warned on Monday that the government of Ibrahim Jaafari was failing to heal wounds among the ethnic and religious communities, leading to potential disaster.
“National consensus is being eroded grossly. The government should really reverse course and embark on national reconciliation and reinstitute institutions without militias ... this is the only way forward,” Mr Allawi said in an interview in Amman.
“We see an extensive programme of dismantling state institutions ... These are ingredients for catastrophe.”
Last week Iraq’s top Shia leader, Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, urged followers to vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum.
At the same time, Sunni religious and political leaders have been urging their community to register to vote — most boycotted elections in January and are therefore not on the electoral register — and to vote ‘No’ on Oct 15.
If two-thirds of voters in three or more of Iraq’s 18 provinces vote ‘No’, then the constitution will be vetoed.—Reuters
