Iraqi Sunni bloc's ministers withdrawing from coalition Cabinet

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Upset over being "marginalized," Iraq's largest Sunni political bloc Wednesday made good on a threat to leave the Cabinet.

The move, which will likely further cripple the embattled Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, came on the same day as a wave of bombings shook Baghdad and left dozens of people dead.

The Iraqi Accord Front has been critical of legislative stalemates and the failure to achieve national reconciliation, a key U.S. benchmark for Iraq, and it warned last week that it would pull its six Cabinet ministers.

The deputy prime minister, Salam al-Zubaie, and five other Cabinet ministers were to submit their resignations Wednesday. Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi -- the leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the most powerful group in the Accord Front -- will submit his resignation to the bloc, which will decide whether he should remain in office.

"The government is continuing with its arrogance, refusing to change its stand and has slammed shut the door to any meaningful reforms necessary for saving Iraq," said Rafaa al-Issawi, an Accord Front member who read a statement to reporters in Baghdad.

"We had hoped that the government would respond to these demands or at least admit the failure of its policies, which led Iraq to a level of misery it had not seen in modern history. But its stand did not surprise us at all."

The bloc hinted that it could return to the fold under the proper circumstances and it said it still intends to "stay active in the political process" for now.

In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said al-Maliki told President Bush during a Wednesday morning videoconference that he was "actively working" to address the Sunni bloc's objections.

Al-Maliki told Bush that talks with "our brothers of the Accord Front" would go on, according to a statement from the prime minister's office. The statement also said Bush renewed his strong support to the government, which he acknowledges "is facing major challenges."

It is the second such political walkout from the al-Maliki government. Six Cabinet ministers from the bloc of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr left earlier this year.

The Sunni bloc's stance shows how hard it is for the Iraqis to achieve national reconciliation, an elusive vision in a fractious government with squabbling Shiites, Sunni Arabs, Kurds and others -- such as Christians and Turkmens -- and in a war-torn society enduring Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence.

The resignations also come just over a month before a key report from Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker to the U.S. government. They will assess the environment and communicate their ideas about the future in Iraq and the progress of the recent buildup of U.S. troops.

Dozens killed in Baghdad bombings

From a gas station to a bustling square, bombers targeted Iraqis in busy locations with deadly precision across Baghdad Wednesday.

A fuel tanker packed with explosives detonated at a gas station in the western part of the city, killing at least 50 people and wounding 60, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said.

Ten cars were damaged in the early afternoon blast that sent a dark cloud of smoke over the Mansour district of the Iraqi capital.

Footage from the scene showed firefighters trying to extinguish the tanker, which was charred along with nearby cars and gas pumps.

The vehicle bomb was one of five that left dozens dead and wounded in the capital. Watch the aftermath of the fuel tanker blast »

Earlier Wednesday, at least 15 people were killed and 20 others were wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded in a busy square in Baghdad's Karrada district, the Interior Ministry said.

The explosion took place near a popular ice cream shop and electronic stores in a commercial area.

Thamir Sami, 33, told The Associated Press he was carrying clothes from his store to his car when the explosion rocked the area.

"Women and children were lining up near the gas station to get fuel," Sami told the AP: "I saw burnt bodies. Other motorists and I helped evacuate the wounded before the ambulances came."

Karrada, on the eastern side of the Tigris River, is usually one of the more stable areas in the capital but has been hit by a string of bombs in the past 10 days.

In the capital's southern district of Dora on Wednesday, another car bomb killed three people and wounded five others, the Interior Ministry said.

The bomb detonated in a market in a predominantly Christian neighborhood frequented by Muslims.

Another car bomb in a commercial area in western Baghdad's Harthiya neighborhood killed one person and wounded seven, the ministry said.

Insurgents also targeted police in two attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said.

Two police officers were killed in a residential area of Mansour when a roadside bomb detonated near a police patrol. Seven people, including four police officers, were wounded in the explosion.

In southwestern Baghdad, gunmen fatally shot two national police, who were members of a counterterrorism unit, as the officers drove a private car through the Saydiya neighborhood.

Other developments

• A mass grave containing the remains of 17 people was found in Diyala province, the U.S. military said Wednesday. The site was discovered Tuesday near the village of Muhbabiya. Residents there reported that insurgents killed 17 people. The victims included women, children and the elderly, the military said.

• Police in Baghdad found 25 bodies across the city Wednesday, Iraq's Interior Ministry said. Scores of dead people thought to be victims of sectarian violence are found daily in the capital.

• Eighteen men were kidnapped near Balad, north of Baghdad, on Wednesday, Tikrit police said. Insurgents abducted the men, most of whom were Shiites, at fake checkpoints between Baghdad and Balad.

• Six U.S. soldiers were killed on Tuesday, bringing the July troop death toll to 79. Two Task Force Marne soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in an indirect fire attack Tuesday, the military said on Thursday. Three U.S. soldiers were killed and six wounded when a bomb exploded near their combat patrol in eastern Baghdad, the military said on Wednesday. The total number of U.S. troop deaths in the Iraq war is 3,658. Seven civilian contractors also have died.

• A British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday. The death toll for British troops in Iraq is 164. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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