Iraq's Electoral Commission on Sunday set national elections for Jan. 30, and a spokesman stated ballots would be cast nationwide. Iraqis will choose a national assembly, which will among other things draft a permanent constitution.
According to The AP, Farid Ayar, spokesman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said "No Iraqi province will be excluded because the law considers Iraq as one constituency, and therefore it is not legal to exclude any province." According to Ayar, 122 parties out of 195 applications were accepted and registered for the elections.
On the ground, a suicide car bomber attempted to kill the police chief of Hillah by ramming his car into Gen. Qais Abdullah's vehicle, police said Sunday. Capt. Hadi Hatif said the attacker's car detonated before it made contact, killing only the bomber in the Saturday incident.
Meanwhile, police said Sunday a joint operation by Iraqi police and National Guards in Baghdad and central Babil province will be launched this week against "insurgents" operating in a belt of cities south of Baghdad.
"We and the Baghdad police, with the participation of the
National Guards will purge the regions of Haswa, Latifiya,
and Mahmoudiya," said police Capt. Hadi Hatif. "We will
work on two fronts to carry out this mission."
The three towns, which are located 30 to 50 kilometers south of the capital, have been a major area of so-called "insurgent activity". (Albawaba.com)
