Amid a tense political background created by the abduction of an Iraqi female legislator Tayseer Mashhadani and seven bodyguards that were protecting her in Baghdad, near a checkpoint on Saturday, the Sunni political bloc, one of the largest in the country, announced yesterday through Adnan Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Accordance Front, that it would start boycotting the Iraqi parliament, by suspending their participation within it. The reason for this, they say, is that the Iraqi government and the American troops conduct useless missions since criminal gangs continue to scare the population with their attacks.

The Iraqi political scene was also shaken yesterday by the near kidnapping attempt of a Shiite Muslim lawmaker, while a third one escaped an assassination attempt. In the first case, according to Iraqi police, Liqa Yassen and her driver managed to escape a group of insurgents who tried to abduct her south of Baghdad. Eight of her bodyguards were not so fortunate though, since they were taken hostage.

In the second case, Iyad Jamaluddin, an official from the Iraqiya state was being transported to Parliament when a car bomb exploded and hit the official convoy. In an interview with Al Arabiya TV station, Jamalludin stated that he had not been harmed but a group of men that were working for him as bodyguards had been severely injured.

Thus, the targeting of both Shiite and Sunni politicians and the subsequent boycott seem to represent parts of a series of operations that seek to intimidate the Iraqi parliament, as well as hinder the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's attempt to successfully complete his national reconciliation plan, which is aimed at ending the bloodshed while enforcing tough security measures in Baghdad.

Furthermore, al-Maliki is not enjoying a very positive image right now, being criticized for starting an official tour in the Middle East area, in the same day a car bomb blasted through a public market in a poor Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, causing the death of at least 77 civilians.