At least 10 died in blast at sacred Shiite cemetery

NAJAF, Iraq — A car bomb exploded near the gates of the sacred Shiite Muslim cemetery here Thursday, killing at least 10 civilians and injuring dozens in the latest provocative assault on the country's Shiite majority.

Among the dead and wounded were women and children, coming to visit the graves of relatives at the sprawling cemetery, the most revered in the Shiite faith because it lies next to the shrine of Imam Ali, son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad and the sect's most venerated figure.

A medical assistant said he saw the bodies of three women being brought in by medical workers to a hospital's morgue, where family members collected the bodies and wept.

The bombing came amid heightened political tensions over stalled talks to form a new Iraqi government. Sunni Arab, Kurdish and Shiite factions have blocked attempts by interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to retain his post for a four-year term. U.S. and Iraqi officials as well as ordinary citizens have decried the months-long parliamentary stalemate.

Al-Jaafari, who has resisted calls to step aside, said Thursday that he would do so if the parliament formally rejected his ministerial nominations. But a news conference scheduled to announce the next parliamentary session was canceled as the country enters a four-day holiday.

The lingering impasse and daily eruptions of sectarian violence also have dogged President Bush, under increasing pressure to draw down troops in Iraq. Bush, speaking to an audience of college students in Charlotte, N.C., said that newly elected officials in Baghdad must "get moving" to live up to the Iraqi public's expectations for democracy.

"Part of the process now is to say to the Iraqi leaders: 'People said something. Now you need to act,' " Bush said. "The people want there to be a democracy, and it requires leadership, for people to stand up and take the lead."

The deadlock has broadened a political and security vacuum exploited by Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

Police in Najaf said the car packed with explosives managed to evade several checkpoints and find its way to the crumbling Old City surrounding the shrine used to stage funeral processions.

The 1:15 p.m. explosion was the latest in a series of attacks on sensitive Shiite religious sites by insurgents seemingly determined to spark a full-scale civil war. The Feb. 22 destruction of a revered shrine in Samarra sparked a torrent of reprisal killings by Shiite militiamen against Sunnis.

Stretching out into the desert, the Najaf cemetery is considered by Shiites as the most important place for burial. For centuries, Shiites worldwide have sought to be interred on its grounds.

Iraq's majority Shiites and embittered Sunni Arab minority have been engaged in an often bloody power struggle since the fall of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government.

Police in western Baghdad on Thursday found six bodies, handcuffed and shot in the head, in the execution style that is seen by many as the signature of the Shiite militias with alleged ties to the Ministry of Interior.

West of Baghdad, at least seven members of the Iraqi security forces were injured by roadside bombs.