Iraqi higher education minister unhurt in bombing

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb exploded in central Baghdad
as the Iraqi higher education minister’s convoy passed by on
Wednesday but he escaped injury, Interior Ministry sources
said.

Two of Sami al-Mudhafer’s bodyguards were wounded and a
civilian bystander was killed in the attack, the sources said.

Interior Ministry sources earlier said it was the education
minister, Abdul Falah Hassan, who had escaped the bombing.

It was not clear whether Mudhafer himself was the target of
the attack as bombings are sometimes directed at any convoy
that seems to belong to Iraqi officials.

Sunni Arab insurgents are waging a relentless campaign of
suicide and car bombings, shootings and assassinations against
the Shi’ite-led government.

The car bombing on Wednesday comes at a sensitive time, as
Shi’ite, Kurdish and Sunni politicians are still struggling to
form a new government nearly two months after December 15
elections.