Turkey condemns mosque bombing, urges new Iraqi government to be formed soon

Turkey strongly condemned a triple suicide bombing attack on a Baghdad mosque, urging a new Iraqi government to be formed quickly, semi-official Anatolia News Agency reported on Monday.

Turkish Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying in a statement that the attack on the Buratha mosque that killed up to 79 people and wounding over 160 others on April 7 showed once again that a new government must be formed in Iraq as soon as possible.

"It is obvious that this attack aimed to create sectarian and ethnical clash. Sections in Iraq should act with common sense and they should not be affected by provocations," said the statement.

It also underlined that ongoing negotiations among political groups in Iraq over the premier candidacy should be finalized as soon as possible in order to provide security to the country.

"We hope that a government which will solve security and economic problems of the country will start to serve soon," the statement added.

Turkey attaches great importance to settlement of stability and establishment of a pluralist and democratic regime in its neighbor Iraq and will continue to support Iraqi people, according to the ministry.

Iraq has been plagued by waves of sectarian violence after the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22, while the country's political process has been in a deadlock over who should be the next prime minister.

Source: Xinhua