A suicide bomber killed at least 13 people at a market just 20 miles from Baghdad on Wednesday, as Iraq’s leader defiantly thumbed his nose at President Obama’s demand for a more inclusive government.
Iraqi police said the suspected-Sunni suicide attacker struck at sunset at an outdoor market south of the capital in an attack that also wounded dozens more.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, said on Iraqi TV that he had no plans to reform his government to put more Sunnis and Kurds in positions of power.
“The call to form a national salvation government represents a coup against the constitution and the political process,” he ranted.
Osama Jameel Ali, a Kurdish parliamentarian, said the speech would only encourage the militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
“I think this was Maliki’s goodbye speech . . . If he keeps on this way, the militants will go for Baghdad,” he said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed the tirade, saying a new government was the only way to save the disintegrating country.
ISIS jihadis solidified their grip on a huge swath of the northwest and along the borders with Syria and Jordan. They also surrounded a massive air base north of Baghdad.