Baghdad: Bombs exploded at five political party offices in Baghdad, wounding eight people including three who work for a leading MP banned from Iraq`s March 7 general election.
An Interior Ministry official said a bomb struck a campaign office of Saleh al-Mutlak, in the Sunni stronghold of Adhamiyah, barely 24 hours after he was disqualified from the vote on account of alleged links to the outlawed Baath party of Saddam Hussein.
"An IED (improvised explosive device) exploded inside the electoral office," said Haider al-Mullah, a candidate from Mutlak`s party, the National Dialogue Front, part of a secular coalition contesting the election.
"It`s a covert action against the Iraqi nationalist forces and particularly Mutlak. We warned before that there would be attacks against us," Mullah said yesterday.
The Interior Ministry official said four other bombs at secular political party offices had wounded five people. All five attacks occurred between 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm (2330-0030 IST).
Mutlak was the number two candidate and top Sunni figure on former prime minister Iyad Allawi`s secular Iraqiya list, before being barred on Friday.
Iraqiya said earlier yesterday it was halting its campaign, after the decision to bar Mutlak and other members of its coalition.
The vote, the second parliamentary ballot since Saddam was toppled, is seen as a test of reconciliation between the population`s Sunni minority and the Shi’ite majority now represented by Maliki`s government.
PTI
