VOA常速英语:Roadside Bomb Kills Senior Shi'ite Lawmaker in Iraq

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The Iraqi Shi'ite faction led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says one of its senior lawmakers has died of wounds suffered in a bomb attack in Baghdad. But U.S. commanders in Iraq say the security situation has improved in three southern Iraqi provinces. VOA Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from Washington.

Iraqi authorities say a bomb planted on a motorcycle struck a car carrying the lawmaker Saleh al-Auqaeili as he traveled in the Sadr City neighborhood. Officials say at least two other people were killed.  

The lawmaker is a member of a Sadrist political faction that holds 30 seats in the Iraqi parliament. Al-Sadr's cease-fire order to his militia has been a key factor in the sharp decline in violence in Iraq during the past year.

A senior U.S. military commander told journalists in Baghad he expects "an uptick" (increase) in violence before Iraqi regional elections early next year. Major General Michael Oates, whose division operates in Shi'ite-dominated provinces south of Baghdad, said there may be a wave of assassinations as rival factions fight for advantage.

His comments were not directly related to the Sadr City bombing.

Oates said he is concerned about "meddling" from Iran's intelligence agencies in support of insurgent groups that split off from the Sadrist movement.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon by satellite link from Camp Ader in southern Iraq, Colonel Philip Battaglia said in the past three months, U.S. troops working with Iraqi security forces have seized about 8,000 weapons in Maysan province, many of which were smuggled across the border from Iran.

"What we have found is in the rockets in particular, we find that the manufacture and lot numbers are Iranian," he said.

Colonel Battaglia said improved security throughout Iraq had made it possible to disrupt the flow of weapons from Iran.  

He added, "We know that we have had an effect, and we have disrupted the flow of weapons, after the first two months, primarily in July-August timeframe, we have found that our discovery of caches of these weapon systems has decreased."

Colonel Battaglia said unemployment and electricity are the two major problems Iraqis are facing in his southern area.