BAGHDAD — Three bombings in Baghdad, including a car bomb in a market, killed five people Thursday, the latest in a surge in Iraq violence that has sparked fears of a revival of all-out sectarian war. Twin roadside bombs in southwest Baghdad killed three people, while a car bomb in a market in the capital's southeast killed two others, security and medical officials said. Attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere have risen sharply, with May Iraq's deadliest month since 2008, as persistent political disputes have given fuel and room for militants to increase their activities. There has been a heightened level of violence since the beginning of the year, coinciding with rising discontent in the Sunni Arab minority that erupted into protests in late December. Authorities have failed to bring the wave of unrest under control, and have not addressed the underlying political issues that analysts say are driving the attacks. The UN envoy to Iraq has warned that the violence is “ready to explode.” Meanwhile, Iraq's Interior Ministry on Wednesday issued a strongly-worded call for forces loyal to the northern Kurdish region to withdraw from several disputed areas, threatening a fragile peace after a spate of violence in April. The unrest, spread over several days in multiple towns between forces loyal to the central government and protesters, had prompted the army to withdraw from several key towns with the security void filled by Kurdish peshmerga forces that the Iraqi army subsequently accused of looking to take control of key oil fields. “The Interior Ministry calls for the brothers in charge of the security file in the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) to withdraw peshmerga forces from Suleiman Bek and Tuz Khurmatu districts, and Kirkuk province, because this area is under the authority of the central government,” a statement posted to the ministry's website said. The disputed territories are “part of the (central government's) range of security responsibilities, according to the Iraqi constitution,” it added. Oil-rich Kirkuk province and its eponymous capital, as well as surrounding areas including Suleiman Bek and Tuz Khurmatu, are a key part of territory that Kurdistan wants to incorporate over strong objections from the federal government in Baghdad, a dispute diplomats and officials say is a major threat to long-term stability. The Kurdish deployments in April, which came as five days of unrest in Iraq killed more than 215 people, increased already high tensions in Iraq, adding a long-running Arab-Kurd dispute over territory to a stand-off between Sunni Arab protesters and the country's Shiite-led government. The latest statement, meanwhile, threatens to inflame an already tense situation in Iraq, after violence in May was the worst since 2008 according to the UN and official figures, as the country grapples with a protracted political deadlock and months-long protests by the Sunni Arab minority. — Agencies
