A line of vehicles carrying coffins of victims who were killed in bomb attacks, pass through a street in Baghdad's Kadhimiya district April 25, 2009. In a second day of major bloodshed, two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests blew themselves up at the gates of a revered Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Baghdad on Friday, killing 60 people, Iraqi police said. At least 125 people were wounded in the blasts, which took place within minutes of one another at the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in the Shi'ite neighbourhood of Kadhimiya, police said. Many of the dead and wounded were Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims.
REUTERS/Ahmed Malik (IRAQ CONFLICT RELIGION POLITICS)
23 Apr 2009 11:26:33 GMT
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
(Updates toll)
BAGHDAD, April 23 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber wearing a vest stuffed with explosives blew himself up in a group of police distributing relief supplies in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 28 people and wounding 50, Iraqi police said.
The police were helping to pass out aid to Iraqis who had been driven from their homes during the sectarian bloodshed and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
At least five children were among the dead, police said.
Violence across Iraq has fallen sharply over the past year but insurgents such as al Qaeda still carry out frequent attacks. Suicide bombings are often associated with al Qaeda.
A suicide bomber on Wednesday killed at least five people and wounded 15 inside a mosque in central Iraq, and on Monday, a suicide bomber in a police uniform killed four policemen in northeastern Diyala province. Eight U.S. soldiers were wounded.
Some expect violence to increase as rival political and armed groups position themselves ahead of a national election due to take place at the end of the year. (Editing by Michael Christie)
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Pentagon: Insurgent attacks likely to rise in Iraq
AP
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon's top Middle East adviser said Wednesday insurgent attacks in Iraq will probably increase as U.S. forces start to leave, but there's no plan now to delay troop departures.
Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Colin Kahl told The Associated Press that the military will continue to watch whether increased violence may push back deadlines for U.S. troop withdrawals ordered by President Barack Obama.
"Are we likely to see the ebb and flow of violence as our posture changes, and as the enemy tries to probe the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces, or demonstrate that they're still relevant? Yes," Kahl said during a 30-minute interview at the Pentagon.
"I think we are likely to see that. But I don't know that we're anticipating a substantial increase."
He noted that security in Iraq has "dramatically improved" over the last two years and that
sectarian violence that threatened a civil war earlier during the U.S. occupation is unlikely to re-emerge.
Earlier Wednesday, a suicide bomber killed at least five people at a Sunni mosque north of Baghdad. A police official said the attacker was mingling with worshippers when he detonated a belt packed with explosives. The blast also injured at least 20 people.
Kahl maintained that any decisions about delaying troop withdrawals ultimately will be made — and must be specifically requested — by the Iraqi government. A Jan. 1 security agreement requires all U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. It also requires that combat soldiers no longer live in major Iraqi cities by June 30.
Additionally, Obama in February said the Pentagon will withdraw all but 35,000 to 50,000 troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010. Those left will focus mainly on countering insurgents and training Iraqi military and police forces.
Kahl also said that the Obama administration was watching security in Iraq to see if any further changes in troop levels might be necessary if violence were to increase dramatically over the next two years.
Violence is down sharply around most of Iraq. Even the area surrounding the site of Wednesday's suicide bombing has been relatively calm, although it is a volatile patchwork of Sunni and Shiite sectors.
However, recent bombings and other attacks have prompted top U.S. commanders to reconsider the June 30 deadline in at least two major Iraq cities — Mosul and Baqouba.
The Iraqi government is expected to decide soon whether to ask U.S. troops to remain in those cities, but Kahl did not know exactly when that might happen.
A group of Republican senators who recently returned from Iraq earlier this week said they're worried that some of the deadlines will come too soon.
"Frankly, there's some concern by both the military and the civilians in Iraq, about removing all combat troops by June 30 as well as trying to be out in August of ... next year," Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters at the Capitol on Monday.
"So there are good things that are going on there, but there is significant concern that remains in Iraq," Chambliss said. "But we certainly are headed in the right direction."
___
Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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Suicide bombers strike, killing 60, in Iraq
Number of wounded tops 100 as bombs explode in and around Baghdad
msnbc.com news services
updated 56 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Two suicide bombers wearing vests stuffed with explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks in Iraq on Thursday, killing 28 people in Baghdad and 32, most of them thought to be Iranian pilgrims, north of the capital, police said.
The blast in central Baghdad took place as a group of Iraqi national police were distributing relief supplies to Iraqis who had been driven from their homes during the sectarian bloodshed and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Fifty people were wounded and at least five children were among the dead, police said.
"It is a suicide bomber. Obviously that has the fingerprints of al-Qaida," said Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi.
The second attack occurred near Muqdadiya, 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile northeastern province of Diyala. The suicide bomber appeared to have targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a restaurant.
Most of the 32 dead were believed to be Iranians visiting Shiite Muslim religious sites in Iraq, police said. Sixty-three people were wounded.
Two suicide bomb attacks kill dozens in Iraq
23 Apr 2009 13:49:58 GMT
Source: Reuters
* At least 70 killed in two suicide bomb attacks
* Many Iranian pilgrims among the dead
* Local insurgent leader reported captured
(Updates death toll, adds description and report of insurgent leader capture)
By Aseel Kami
BAGHDAD, April 23 (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers wearing vests stuffed with explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks in Iraq on Thursday, killing almost 70 people, many of them Iranian pilgrims, police said.
The blasts occurred as apprehension grows in Iraq ahead of a pullout by U.S. troops from city centres in June, and after warnings from officials that insurgent groups may try to take advantage of that to launch attacks.
A national election due at the end of the year also threatens a resurgence in violence just as the bloodshed of the past six years appeared to be receding. The blast in central Baghdad took place as a group of Iraqi national police were distributing relief supplies to families driven from their homes during the sectarian slaughter and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Fifty people were wounded and at least five children were among the dead, police said.
Red Crescent food parcels and shattered packets of chocolate biscuits were strewn in the blood pooled on the pavement after the attack, while a woman dressed in a black abaya robe wailed and beat her thighs in anguish.
"It is a suicide bomber. Obviously that has the fingerprints of al Qaeda," said Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi.
The second attack occurred near Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala. The suicide bomber appeared to have targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a crowded roadside restaurant at lunchtime.
All but two of the 40 dead were Iranians visiting Shi'ite Muslim religious sites in Iraq, police said. Sixty-eight people were wounded.
BAGHDADI ARREST
Violence across Iraq has fallen sharply over the past year, but insurgents such as Sunni Islamist al Qaeda still carry out regular attacks. Suicide bombings are often associated with al Qaeda.
A suicide bomber on Wednesday killed at least five people and wounded 15 inside a mosque in central Iraq, and on Monday, a suicide bomber in a police uniform killed four policemen in Diyala. Eight U.S. soldiers were wounded.
Shortly after Thursday's attacks, state-owned al-Iraqiya television reported that the purported leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, had been arrested in eastern Baghdad.
Baghdadi is said to be the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, one of several groups thought to be behind suicide bombings and other attacks in the northern city of Mosul and elsewhere in Iraq.
His arrest, which could not be confirmed, has been reported before. Security experts have speculated in the past that Baghdadi was a character invented by some extremist groups rather than a real person.
Some Iraqis expect violence to increase in Iraq as rival political and armed groups position themselves ahead of a national election due to take place at the end of the year.
Iraqi officials say al Qaeda and other groups are also likely to try to test the Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops prepare to pull out of cities ahead of a full withdrawal by the end of 2011. (Editing by Louise Ireland and Michael Christie)
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Double Bombing Hits Outside Baghdad Shrine
by The Associated Press
NPR.org, April 24, 2009 · Back-to-back suicide bombings killed 60 people Friday outside the most important Shiite shrine in Baghdad, a day after the country was rocked by its most deadly violence in more than a year.
The bombings Friday and on Thursday — in which nearly 80 people were killed — are the latest in a series of high-profile attacks blamed on Sunni insurgents, police officials said.
The bombers in Friday's attacks detonated explosive belts within minutes of each other near the gates of the tomb of Imam Mousa al-Kazim, a prominent Shiite saint, located in the northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah, said a police official. Another police official said the bombers struck shortly before the start of Friday prayers as worshippers streamed in to the mosque — an important site for Shiite pilgrims.
Among the dead were 25 Iranian pilgrims, according to a police and a hospital official. Both said that at least 125 people, including 80 Iranian pilgrims, also were injured in the blast.
All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
The shrine has been a favored target of insurgents, most recently in early April when a bomb left in a plastic bag near the shrine killed seven people and wounded 23.
In January, a man dressed as a woman blew himself up near the shrine, killing more than three dozen people and wounding more than 70.
Imam Mousa al-Kazim is an 8th century saint and one of 12 Shiite saints. Hundreds of thousands of Shiites march to the shrine in Kazimiyah every year to commemorate his death in A.D. 799. Shiites believe al-Kazim is buried in the Baghdad golden-domed shrine.
Violence in Iraq is at its lowest levels since the months following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. But the recent attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere have exposed gaps in security as U.S. forces draw down ahead of a planned withdrawal by the end of 2011.
Funerals began Friday for those killed in the suicide bombings a day earlier in Baghdad and in Diyala province.
Coffins were loaded on trucks near the Baghdad offices of the Iraqi Red Crescent, whose volunteers were distributing food parcels in central Baghdad when a suicide bomber killed 31 and wounded at least 50 others.
---
Sixty die in deadliest Iraq bombing since June
24 Apr 2009 12:22:20 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Second day of major bloodshed
* Deadliest single attack in 10 months
* Iranians again among the dead
(Adds Iranian comment, details)
By Aws Qusay
BAGHDAD, April 24 (Reuters) - In a second day of major bloodshed, two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests blew themselves up at the gates of a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Baghdad on Friday, killing 60 people, Iraqi police said.
The attack was the deadliest single incident in Iraq since 63 people died in a truck bomb blast in Baghdad on June 17 last year, and came amid growing concerns that a recent drop in violence might turn out to have been just a temporary lull.
At least 125 people were wounded in the apparently coordinated blasts at the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim shrine in the Shi'ite neighbourhood of Kadhimiya, police said. Many of the dead and wounded were Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims.
Police said the attackers approached two different gates to the shrine, which has been a frequent target in the past.
One of the bombers detonated the explosives just inside a courtyard of the shrine, which contains the tombs of two important holy men, or imams.
The blasts on the Muslim holy day followed two suicide bombs on Thursday, one in Baghdad and the other in the northeastern province of Diyala, in which at least 89 people died.
Most of the 57 dead in Diyala were Iranians, who have flocked to Iraq's Shi'ite holy sites in the millions since Sunni Arab dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted in the 2003 invasion.
"The incident (in Iraq) yesterday was a very, very hateful example of those who harm religion in the name of religion," influential Iranian cleric and former president Ali Akbar Rafsanjani told worshippers at Friday prayers.
"We feel sorry for the Iraqi people because such corrupt groups have penetrated into Iraq. We also criticize America for not having the serious will to preserve Iraq's security," Rafsanjani added.
GROWING FEARS OF RESURGENCE IN VIOLENCE
While violence in Iraq has fallen dramatically over the past year, insurgent groups such as al Qaeda still carry out frequent attacks. Suicide bombings are a hallmark of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
The latest attacks coincide with growing fears of a resurgence in violence as U.S. troops prepare to pull out of Iraqi cities in June, ahead of a full U.S. withdrawal by the end of 2011, and amid doubts over the effectiveness of Iraqi forces.
A national election at the end of the year has also heightened apprehensions as political parties and armed groups jostle for dominance of the oil-producing nation.
Analysts say the sectarian divide remains between Shi'ites and Sunnis, which led to tens of thousands being slaughtered, while Kurd-Arab tensions over disputed lands in the north could also provoke renewed conflict.
On Thursday, Iraqi authorities announced the arrest of a leader of an al Qaeda-linked insurgent group. But neither they nor the U.S. military were able to confirm on Friday that the person was Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported head of a group called the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).
Some experts say they remain unconvinced that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi actually exists, speculating that he is a fictional character invented by al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).
"Abu Omar al-Baghdadi is, I believe, not a real person, but a title given to an Iraqi who acts as an Iraqi figurehead of ISI/AQI so that they can claim that it is led by Iraqis when, almost certainly, it is led by foreign jihadists," said Terry Kelly, a senior researcher at the Rand Corporation think-tank.
"This is not the first time there have been claims that he has been caught or killed. The previous claims may be true," said Kelly, who served as a policy adviser to the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. (Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian in Tehran; Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Louise Ireland)
----
Two car bombs exploded at a crowded flea market and a restaurant in the Shiite Muslim enclave in Baghdad. At least 41 people were killed and 78 wounded. Residents said Iraqi security forces failed to protect them. “All they care about is hitting on girls and women,” a salesman said.
Shiite Muslims appear to be the targets, and that raises fears of a renewed Sunni insurgency. Survivors of two blasts in Sadr City say Iraqi security forces failed to protect them.
By Saif Hameed and Liz Sly
April 30, 2009
Reporting from Baghdad -- Five car bombs ripped through neighborhoods across Baghdad late Wednesday, killing at least 48 people, wounding scores more and further raising concerns that a new wave of violence is threatening the security gains of the last 18 months.
The bombings came after the deaths of nearly 160 people in a 24-hour period late last week marked the worst surge of violence in a year. The attacks in recent days, all appearing to target Shiite Muslim civilians, have raised fears that the Sunni insurgency is regrouping for a fresh campaign of violence that could in turn trigger retaliation and reignite the sectarian warfare that only recently subsided.
U.S. troops are due to withdraw from Iraq's cities by the end of June, and the attacks have deepened concerns that the Iraqi security forces are not up to the job of taking charge from the departing Americans.
Iraqi officials have blamed the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq, operating in tandem with remnants of the late Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, for the uptick in violence. Last week's bombings were suicide attacks, a hallmark of Al Qaeda in Iraq, but the provenance of the five car bombings is murkier and could be traced to any number of factions.
Survivors of an attack Wednesday in Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in northeast Baghdad, turned their wrath on the security forces, hurling bottles and bricks at police and army troops until soldiers fired in the air to disperse them. Witnesses said they blamed the army, which controls the area, for the lapses in security that allowed three cars laden with bombs to enter what should be a closely guarded market area.
"The army is not playing its role," said Sabah Mohammed, 45, a salesman who was on his way to an outdoor flea market to buy a tracksuit when two bombs exploded.
"When the army first came to Sadr City, I was happy, but now all they care about is hitting on girls and women. They don't inspect incoming cars. They only inspect them if there are women inside."
The bombings in Sadr City occurred about 400 yards apart, at the market and a restaurant, and within 15 minutes of each other in the late afternoon, when the market is usually packed with people hunting for secondhand clothes and other bargains. At least 41 people were killed and 78 wounded.
The third car bomb was found by police and defused.
A little less than an hour later, an explosion in the southern neighborhood of Dora killed five people. Two more people were later killed by a bomb in a car parked outside a Shiite mosque in the western neighborhood of Hurriya. A fifth blast in the southern neighborhood of Shorta Rabaa wounded six.
Three other car bombs were found and defused elsewhere in the city, suggesting a coordinated effort to wreak havoc and sow panic across Baghdad.
"How is this possible?" asked Adnan Dawood, 35, a furniture shop owner who tried to flee the first of the two blasts in Sadr City and then was knocked unconscious by the second.
"There are three entrances to Sadr City and all are overseen by army checkpoints," he said, speaking by telephone from his hospital bed. "What is the army doing? Are they there for only oppressing and arresting people?
"If this continues to happen, then no one can be able to make their living," he added. "I'm afraid to go back to my shop again. I think the attacks will occur again."
liz.sly@latimes.com
Hameed writes for The Times.
----
Death toll from twin Iraq car bombs rises to 51
30 Apr 2009 07:47:22 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Death toll rises from Wednesday blasts
* Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party condemns attack
BAGHDAD, April 30 (Reuters) - The death toll from twin car bomb blasts in a crowded Baghdad market rose to 51 on Thursday, police said, and the country's main Sunni political party condemned the attack on a heavily Shi'ite Muslim area.
The car bombs on Wednesday, which also wounded 76 people in the capital's sprawling Sadr City slum, followed a series of other attacks in the past two weeks that have stirred fears of a return to broader sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.
A third car bomb was found in a parked taxi cab and detonated by security forces.
The Iraqi Islamic Party, the main political party in parliament representing the country's once dominant Sunni minority, denounced the attack as a blatant attempt to trigger renewed fighting between Sunnis and Shi'ites.
"The bloody hands want Iraqis to feel fear," the party said in a statement.
"These explosions in Sadr City are part of a big conspiracy by Iraq's enemies. We call on all political groups and the Iraqi government, and especially the security forces, to quell this sedition."
The upsurge in violence this month has ended the sense of growing calm and security that had gripped Baghdad earlier this year.
While the violence remains below the levels of last year, the attacks coincide with plans for U.S. combat troops to pull out of Iraqi cities in June, ahead of a full withdrawal from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Iraqis still lack faith in the abilities of their own security forces to defend them against bombs and other attacks.
Many Iraqis also fear there will be more violence ahead of a national election late this year, as political rivals and armed groups jostle for dominance of the oil-producing country.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the string of recent deadly bombings was a cause for concern, but the political system was functioning and violence was low compared to a year ago.
Analysts said Iraq is likely to suffer suicide and car bomb attacks for several more years. While that will certainly present a dire threat to Iraqi civilians, it is less clear whether it presents a mortal threat to the state.
More dangerous to Iraq's medium-term stability than bombs is the fact not enough has been done in the political arena to foster reconciliation between Sunnis and Shi'ites, the analysts say.
Iraq has also failed to take steps to ease tensions over land and oil between Arabs and minority Kurds in the north. (Reporting by Muhanad Mohammed; Editing by Michael Christie and Sophie Hares)
-----
By SAM DAGHER and SUADAD AL-SALHY
Published: April 29, 2009
BAGHDAD — A series of bombs went off in Baghdad on Wednesday, extending a period of violence that has rattled Iraq’s government and security forces.
The pattern of Wednesday’s attacks — including three car bombs in predominantly Shiite areas and two at a Sunni mosque — raised fresh concern that sectarian passions could be inflamed anew.
Accounts of the death toll varied, from at least 17 people to as many as 48, with dozens wounded. So far in April, at least 300 Iraqis have been killed in bombing attacks, making it the bloodiest month since the start of the year and reversing the sharp drops in civilian deaths in January and February.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has blamed Sunni insurgents and members of Saddam Hussein’s ousted Baath Party for the recent violence, including four suicide bombings last week that killed almost 160 people, mostly Shiites. Mr. Maliki is torn between demands from the United States and some Sunni leaders to reconcile with some former members of the Hussein government and his Shiite partners, who reject an accommodation.
In the deadliest attacks on Wednesday, two car bombs went off in the Muraidi market in the impoverished Shiite district of Sadr City. The first went off around 4:30 p.m., a peak shopping hour, in a section of the market where live birds are sold. About 10 minutes later, a second exploded in front of a popular ice cream and juice shop in the market.
Iraqi forces sealed off the area, but struggled to disperse angry crowds by firing their weapons into the air for almost an hour. Witnesses said some of those who lost loved ones in the attacks threw bricks and rocks at the soldiers, whom they blamed for security lapses in the area.
Two hospitals in Sadr City, Imam Ali and Shaheed al-Sadr, said the car bombings killed at least 10 people and wounded 63. But a security official with the Interior Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the attacks with reporters, said the market bombings killed 41 people and wounded 68.
Gen. Aboud Gambar, head of the Iraqi military’s Baghdad operations command, told state-owned television Al Iraqiya that three other car bombs were intercepted before they detonated.
Almost 30 minutes after the Sadr City attacks, a roadside bomb exploded in the path of a minibus on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, killing five of its occupants and wounding eight, the Interior Ministry official said.
Around 6 p.m., a car bomb went off in another market in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Shurta Rabia in southwestern Baghdad, wounding five, the official said.
Later in the evening, two car bombs exploded in front of the Nida Allah Sunni mosque in the predominantly Shiite district of Huriya in northwestern Baghdad, killing at least two and wounding eight, he said.
In Sadr City, some residents blamed the Baathists and Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown group that American intelligence officials say is led by foreigners, for the violence, while others said it was the work of American intelligence officers and the Baathists to put pressure on Mr. Maliki’s government to relent on his refusal to reconcile with the Baathists.
“Islamist Shiites will never accept the return of the Baathists or America’s schemes,” said Mohammed Ali, 44, of Sadr City.
Abdullah al-Hilfi, 38, said the bombings were “a gift” from Baathists to commemorate Mr. Hussein’s birthday, which was Tuesday.
Both wanted the militia of Moktada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric, to resume its role in securing markets and neighborhoods.
Mohammed Hassan Dhari, 45, was simply tired of it all. “I want a solution,” he said. “We are tired. We need solutions.”
Despite the varying theories about who might have been behind the bombings, almost everyone agreed that Iraqi forces were either unable or too corrupt and infiltrated with militants to take control of the security situation.
At Imam Ali Hospital, some of the wounded said soldiers in Sadr City received bribes in return for relaxing vehicle searches at checkpoints.
“We fear things are getting out of control,” warned Ahmed al-Massoudi, a Shiite member of Parliament from the bloc of Mr. Sadr.
On Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said, “Iraq has 29 million people and there is no force in the whole world, security apparatus or anyone from Adam’s time until now that can dedicate one cop to every single Iraqi.”
Atheer Kakan contributed reporting.
---
INTERVIEW-Spike in Iraq violence is temporary, official says
01 May 2009 13:01:43 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Surge in violence is temporary, security adviser says
* Expect intermittent violence for another two years
* Investment will help offset cycle of violence
By Luke Baker
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - The recent surge in violence in Iraq is short-term rather than the beginning of a new trend, Iraq's national security adviser said on Friday as he sought to paint a rosy outlook for the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of an Iraq investment conference in London, Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said the spate of suicide bombings in which more than 200 people have been killed in the past 10 days was the work of al-Qaeda-linked groups. It showed their desperation to reignite sectarian conflict, he said.
"This is a spike, that is all," Rubaie told Reuters. "This sort of thing may happen every few weeks for the next couple of years, but we are on top of it.
"Al Qaeda will continue to try to stage these high-profile attacks against the populace, to go back to their old strategy of trying to trigger a sectarian response from the Shia population, but they will fail miserably," he said.
Security has broadly improved throughout Iraq in the past 18 months, but there was an alarming step up in violence last month, with 290 civilians killed across the country, according to government figures released on Thursday.
Several of the attacks, including two suicide bombings that killed 150 people, targeted Shi'ite areas of Baghdad or Shi'ite holy sites, stoking fears of renewed sectarian conflict like that which tore the country apart between 2005 and 2007.
Security remains a major obstacle for foreign investors looking to tap into Iraq's oil wealth and the businesses that are expected to spin off from that. The legal framework governing investment is also regarded as problematic.
To try to offset some of those concerns, Iraqi officials spent most of the two-day conference trying to reassure the more than 600 delegates -- from bankers to aircraft salesman, oil executives and construction entrepreneurs -- that opportunities were ripe and that business was set to boom.
"IT'S THE ECONOMY"
Rubaie said investment and trade were integral to combating the insurgency -- creating jobs was the best way of making sure that young men wouldn't resort to violence, he said.
"The message I want to give you is this: Iraq has turned the corner and now it's looking forward to a completely different phase, a phase that's about the economy, jobs and investment," he told the conference.
"We're heading towards issues-based politics and services."
While Iraq's home-grown security forces have made strides in the past 18 months, there is still some way to go before they are capable of handling national security on their own.
But Rubaie said there was now almost a danger of having too many police. With police officers paid around $300 a month, skilled people were turning away from other professions -- teaching, plumbing, electrical work -- to become policemen.
"Everyone is leaving to go into the police. We need investment so we can get people back into other jobs and make the economy grow more evenly," he said.
"People are looking for jobs, they are looking for a salary. They will not go and join al Qaeda if it only pays $100."
While security is a concern for investors, it was notable that when Rubaie addressed the conference, the vast hall was half-empty. When the oil minister or finance officials were speaking, the hall was packed with attentive businessmen.
"The tipping point has been reached in Iraq," said Brigadier James Ellery, an executive with Aegis Defence Services, a British security and risk company with large operations in Iraq.
"A third of the employees in our company in Iraq are Iraqi, and that's growing all the time. They are increasingly senior and soon they will run the business. That is a good thing."
(Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
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