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Iraqi parliament suicide bomber kills two lawmakers

A bomb rocked the Iraqi parliament building in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone yesterday, killing at least two lawmakers in a stunning security breach in the third month of a US-Iraqi crackdown on violence in the capital, officials said.

State television said at least 10 people were wounded during the attack, which shook a cafeteria while several lawmakers were eating lunch.

One of the dead lawmakers was Mohammed Awad, a member of the Sunni National Dialogue Front, said Saleh al-Mutlaq, the leader of the party, which holds 11 seats in Iraq's legislature. A female Sunni lawmaker from the same party was also wounded, he said.

A security official at the parliament building said a second lawmaker, a Shiite member, was also killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

But Mukhlis al-Zamili of the Shiite Fadhila party said the second dead lawmaker was a Kurd. He said six of those wounded were members of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc.

Al-Zamili also said he believed a suicide bomber was behind the attack.

"It seems that the attack was carried out by a suicide attacker wearing an explosive vest," he said.

Earlier in the day, security officials at the parliament used dogs to check people entering the building in a rare precaution -- apparently concerned that an attack might take place.

After the blast, security guards sealed the building and no one -- including lawmakers -- was allowed to enter or leave.

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