Triple bombing kills scores in Iraq's Anbar Province

In July this year, Aswat al-Iraq, an independent Iraqi news agency, reported that the uptick in violence in Anbar was a result of local political tensions ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for January 2010.

Sheikh Hashim Khalifa, a renowned tribal chief in Anbar … ascribed this growing wave of violence to "political conflicts as the forthcoming elections are drawing near"….

"The once-relied-on security agencies in Anbar are now helpless as to confront violence for the two specific reasons of poor intelligence gathering and security commanders' inclination to avoid clashing with powerful political blocs," Sheikh Khalifa told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

According to Reuters, however, Iraqi officials have blamed "Sunni extremists and members of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led Baath party for a wave of bombings [in Anbar] since June, including two at federal ministries."

Fears that insurgents are regrouping before the scheduled January elections compounded concerns that the elections could be postponed if lawmakers do not agree on a new election law, reports the Los Angeles Times.

In a statement issued Sunday in Baghdad, the United Nations mission in Iraq warned that there was a real risk the elections would have to be delayed because of squabbling within Iraq's legislature over what kind of election law to adopt and the composition of the commission that will oversee the poll…. Parliament has been bickering over whether voters should be able to cast ballots for individual candidates or for political parties – a so-called open-list system versus a closed list….

An election delay could in turn delay the withdrawal of US troops, the bulk of which are scheduled to pull out immediately after a new government is seated.

This map from PBS shows the location of Iraq's Anbar province.

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