Death sentence for Iraqi sectarian killings

BAGHDAD -- In a trial that has fueled sectarian tensions in the country, Iraq's fugitive Sunni vice president was sentenced yesterday to death by hanging on charges he masterminded death squads against rivals.

Underscoring the instability, insurgents unleashed an onslaught of bombings and shootings across Iraq, killing at least 92 people in one of the deadliest days this year.

It's unlikely that the attacks in 13 cities were all timed to coincide with the afternoon verdict in absentia that capped a monthslong case against former Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a longtime foe of Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Still, taken together, the violence and verdict could energize Sunni insurgents bent on returning Iraq to the brink of civil war by targeting Shia and undermining the government.

Al-Hashemi fled to Turkey in the months after the Shia-led government accused him of playing a role in 150 bombings, assassinations and other attacks from 2005 to 2011, during which the country was mired in retaliatory sectarian violence following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime.

Most of the attacks were allegedly carried out by al-Hashemi's bodyguards and other employees, and largely targeted government officials, security forces and Shia pilgrims.

The vice president declined to comment immediately on the verdict in which the presiding judge announced the conviction.

The politically charged case, announced the day after U.S. troops withdrew from the country in December, sparked a government crisis and fueled Sunni Muslim and Kurdish resentment against al-Maliki, who critics say is monopolizing power.

The worst violence yesterday struck Baghdad, where bombs pounded a half-dozen neighborhoods, both Sunni and Shia. The deadliest attacks hit Shia areas Sunday evening, hours after the al-Hashemi verdict. In all, 92 people were killed and more than 360 wounded in at least 21 separate attacks around the nation, according to police and hospital reports.