EGYPT'S Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit condemned a series of bombings that hit the Iraqi capital on Sunday killing dozens and wounding more than 200 people, including four Egyptians. "Four Egyptian staff at the Egyptian consulate were injured by a shrapnel in the four blasts that took place early yesterday. Their injuries are not serious. However, they were admitted to Al-Yarmouk Hospital for further check-ups," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said on Sunday. He added that the Egyptian ambassador in Baghdad and other staff were safe and doing their job as usual. In his call with Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, Abul Gheit slammed the blasts as cowardly terror acts targeting Iraq's stability and security, according to Zaki. "We feel sorrow that the attacks killed the head of the Iraqi Security Unit and some members of the unit. That's a crime against the nation of Iraq," Zaki said in a statement. He added that Egypt had formed an ad hoc committee in the Foreign Ministry to follow up on developments in Iraq after the blasts. Several Iraqi guards at the Egyptian consulate and one Iraqi guard at the German embassy were killed, authorities said. Guards at the Egyptian consulate opened fire on one of the attackers as he drove towards them, but were unable to stop him before the blast hit concrete barriers, they added. The near-simultaneous blasts in the vicinity of the Egyptian, Iranian and German embassies in the Baghdad suburb of Mansour left 35 dead and 224 people wounded, Iraqi officials said. "The terrorists seized this time between the end of the elections and the forming of the government to target the political process," said Abdul-Rasoul al-Zaidi, a civil defence official. Talks among major political factions to form a new government continue. The March 7 vote followed largely ethnic and religious lines and no party won a majority of the 325 seats at stake. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's secular Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats to the 89 secured by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shi'ite State of Law group. The two men are rivals to become prime minister and need allies to obtain a majority of 163 seats. Delays in forming a new government may hamper President Barack Obama's plan to reduce US troop strength in Iraq from 96,000 to 50,000 by August.
