Iraq's Largest Sunni Bloc Quits Maliki Government

Iraq's Largest Sunni Bloc Quits Maliki Government

Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc has announced its withdrawal from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition government, saying he has failed to meet the bloc's demands.

Rafaa al-Issawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi Accordance Front told reporters in Baghdad that the bloc's six cabinet ministers would submit their resignations Wednesday.

Last week, the bloc gave the prime minister a list of demands, including dealing with Shi'ite militias and reforming the conduct of raids and arrests.

The Accordance Front has been boycotting Cabinet meetings since June to protest legal proceedings against Culture Minister Asad al-Hashimi, who is accused of arranging to have another politician killed.

In violence today, a car bomb blast in central Baghdad killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 20 others. At least 12 people were killed when a fuel tanker packed with explosives blew up near a gas station on the capital's west side.

Separately, the U.S. military said three American soldiers were killed and six others wounded when their patrol was hit by a sophisticated armor-piercing bomb in eastern Baghdad Tuesday.

In Washington, U.S. government auditors say the United States has provided $19.2 billion to train and equip Iraqi security forces, but the U.S. military is unable to fully determine what equipment Iraqis have received.

The report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that as of this July, the military still did not have a comprehensive system for tracking the equipment. Investigators found a discrepancy of at least 190,000 weapons in two military accounting systems tracking the equipment disbursements.

Last week, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States said Iraq is turning to China for weapons and military equipment because of U.S. delays in providing them.

ENDS

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