A series of explosions in western Iraq killed six people Sunday, including an official of a political faction in former prime minister Iyad Allawi's electoral coalition, police said. They said four bombs went off near the house of Ghanim Radhi, a member of the Development and Reforms movement, early Sunday in the town of Qaim, 300 km (185 miles) west of Baghdad in Anbar province. Radhi and one of his brothers, who is a junior member in the movement, were killed. The first two bombs went off and when people gathered in the area after the blast, two more exploded, said Luai Mohammed, a relative of Radhi's who was at the scene. “The street was full of people, some were lying motionless and others were screaming in pain,” he told Reuters. Police said four other people were killed but gave no details of their identities. They said 15 people were wounded. Radhi did not stand in the parliamentary election on March 7 but his movement is a minor faction in Allawi's secular Iraqiya list which emerged with the most seats, according to preliminary results released on Friday. Two days before the explosions, Iraqiya premises were damaged by fire in the southern province of Karbala. Overall, violence in Iraq has dropped sharply in the past few years but a series of explosions in recent weeks has illustrated the fragility of security in the country.
