Iraqi officials say several explosions have hit the capital, Baghdad, killing at least seven people as a political crisis continues in the country following the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Authorities said the deadly blasts Thursday hit across the city, including two roadside bombs that also wounded at least 13 other people. Television footage showed large plumes of smoke rising from a blast side in Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood.
On Wednesday, Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi said that allegations by the Shi'ite led government that he plotted to kill other government officials are politically motivated by the prime minister, whom Hashemi says wanted to consolidate power when U.S. troops left this month.
In an interview with VOA, Hashemi says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki controls the security and intelligence forces and does not allow other elected officials to interfere. The vice president fled to the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq to escape a warrant for his arrest issued this week.
Hashemi, a Sunni, says the United States failed to leave behind a democratic model in Iraq, leaving the nation vulnerable to interference from its Iranian neighbors.
Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Maliki, at a Baghdad news conference, called on Kurdish authorities to hand over the vice president.
A spokesman for Iraq's Interior Ministry says three of Hashemi's bodyguards confessed they planted bombs targeting Iraqi government and security officials with Hashemi's backing.
The alleged plot and a call last week by Mr. Maliki for a no-confidence vote in parliament against another leading Sunni politician, Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, have heightened political tension in Iraq.
On Tuesday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Iraqi leaders to settle their political differences.
The White House said Biden telephoned Mr. Maliki and the speaker of the Council of Representatives, Osama al-Nujaifi. It said Biden stressed the urgent need for the prime minister and the leaders of other political blocs to meet and work through their differences.
Both Hashemi and Mutlaq are leaders of Iraq's mostly Sunni Iraqiya political bloc, part of the coalition government. Iraqiya's members walked out of parliament on Saturday, accusing Mr. Maliki of seizing power.
