Roadside bombs in Baghdad killed two pilgrims and wounded 17 others headed for a Shia religious rite on Friday, security sources said, amid a political crisis that has renewed fears of sectarian violence. The bombings followed a suicide attack on pilgrims that killed 44 and wounded 81 west of the southern city of Nassiriya and other attacks in the capital that killed dozens on Thursday.
Iraq's fragile governing coalition was thrown into peril as the final US troops left Iraq on December 18 when Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government moved to arrest a Sunni vice president and Maliki asked parliament to remove his deputy, another prominent Sunni.
The political turmoil, followed on December 22 by a series of bombings in Shiae areas of the capital that killed 72 people, raised fears of a return to sectarian conflict. Nearly nine years after the 2003 invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein, Iraq is plagued by scores of bombings and other attacks each month, most blamed on Sunni insurgents or Shia militias.
Roadside bombs exploded near pilgrims in the Husseiniya, Abu Dsheer and Saidiya districts of the capital on Friday, killing two and wounding 17. Thousands of pilgrims are walking to the Shia holy city of Kerbala for the annual Arbain religious rite next week. A mortar landed in the Washash area and a Katyusha rocket hit near a theatre in central Baghdad, wounding five people. Two Katyusha rockets hit the outskirts of the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the Iraqi military was holding a parade to celebrate the 91st anniversary of the army.
Maliki, flanked by acting Defence Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi and military commander Lieutenant General Babakir Zebari, watched as row upon row of soldiers in dress uniforms and fatigues marched by their reviewing stand. Abrams tanks, part of the arsenal Iraq is buying from the United States, and Humvees rolled and helicopters circled overhead.
The show was held at a parade ground built by Saddam to commemorate the 1980s war against Iran and home to one of Baghdad's prominent monuments, sometimes known as the "arch of triumph" - two arches comprised of hands holding crossed swords.
The parade was the first major show of force by the Iraqi army since the departure of the last US troops. The security forces were rebuilt after US administrator Paul Bremer disbanded Saddam's military following the invasion. The government says the army and police number around 900,000. In a statement to mark the occasion, President Jalal Talabani called on the army to work to improve the "extraordinary security circumstances" in Iraq.
"The celebration of the anniversary ... imposes mutual responsibilities among our people's political, governmental and social leaders, particularly hard work to develop the training, arming and techniques of our forces," he said in a statement.
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