Car bombs sweep Baghdad, 32 recruits found dead

IRAQ: The bodies of 32 security force recruits were found in Baghdad and a wave of car bombs hit the city while Iraq's prime minister-designate vowed to unite all ethnic and sectarian groups.

Jawad al-Maliki is working on choosing a cabinet, which will share power among Shi'ite Muslims, Sunni Arabs and Kurds in a bid to end a Sunni insurgency and sectarian violence.

Maliki told CNN television healing the divisions wracking postwar Iraq was his biggest job as its first permanent premier.

"The main challenge that I see is the existence of a torn relationship in the Iraqi community with all the sectarian and ethnic backgrounds," said the tough-talking Shi'ite politician.

"So I have to work first on uniting all of these elements together and work on a national reconciliation on the basis of national dialogue and common interests."

The 32 bodies were found in two places, Interior Ministry sources said. All the victims were from the rebel stronghold of Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of the capital.

Two car bombs near Baghdad's Mustansiriya University killed at least five people and wounded 25, officials said. A car bomb near the Health Ministry killed three people and wounded 25. Four other bombings in the city wounded at least 27 people.

Guerrillas attacked a police station near Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, killing four policemen. Rebels draw support from the Sunni minority once dominant under Saddam.

Maliki has four weeks to choose a new cabinet and form a government of national unity, widely seen as the only way to halt the sectarian violence.

The cabinet and Maliki's own appointment, made by President Jalal Talabani on Saturday, must be ratified by parliament.

A key test of his ability to lead and to unite will be his choice of interior minister, perhaps the most sensitive post given the brutal past many Iraqis endured under Saddam's rule and a present racked by relentless instability and violence.

"We want nothing but security and a safe community in which we can live and raise our children safely," said Wael Khamis, a 44-year-old businessman.

With Maliki in the process of forming a coalition and ending four months of political paralysis, Shi'ite neighbour Iran said there was no longer any need for talks with the United States to discuss Iraq's problems. Baghdad, Tuesday, Reuters