From Reuters, “Iraqi MP Killed; No Government Announced”
BAGHDAD – Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament Wednesday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.
Iraqi police said Lame’a Abed Khadawi, a member of caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s political party, was shot dead outside her house in eastern Baghdad. She is the first person in the 275-seat National Assembly to be killed.
Allawi himself survived a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy this month. Khadawi was one of around 90 women elected to the assembly on Jan. 30. By law, a third of the candidates on party lists had to be women.
Pressure has mounted on Iraq’s politicians to end months of post-election bickering. America’s top general urged them on Tuesday to form a new government quickly to combat an insurgency he said was as strong as it had been a year ago…
Hopes of announcing a government have repeatedly been dashed during three months of squabbling over the distribution of ministries to rival sects. Politicians had hoped the election would lead Iraq to stability and economic recovery…