Cabinet shake-up in works

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Bombs, mortar rounds and shootings left more than 40 Iraqis dead Wednesday as Iraqi politicians met to discuss a possible Cabinet shake-up in an attempt to improve the government’s track record on stemming violence.

The Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces domestic and international pressure to secure streets and provide services. Al-Maliki blames his government’s shortcomings in part on the ministers appointed under pressure from his coalition partners. Talks between al-Maliki, Cabinet officials and political party leaders were under way Wednesday to reshuffle the posts.

“We’re trying to strengthen the position of the prime minister,” said Dyaaldin Fyad, a Shiite Muslim member of parliament. “There’s an agreement to change the ministries.”

In Wednesday’s deadliest incident of sectarian violence, an explosives-packed car blew up in a crowded bus terminal in a mostly Shiite district of eastern Baghdad, killing 10 Iraqis and injuring 25 during the morning rush hour.

Apparent Sunni insurgents killed at least five civilians and injured 13 in two other explosions set off in New Baghdad, another mostly Shiite neighborhood of the capital.

Gunmen kidnapped a ranking adviser to the Shiite-dominated Ministry of Transportation in eastern Baghdad.

Suspected Shiite militants also struck at Sunnis. An Interior Ministry official reported the discovery of at least 21 unidentified bodies in and around the capital. Most has been shot multiple times.