BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister on Sunday sought safeguards for small religious communities in this mainly Muslim country as Christians protested parliament’s decision to stop setting aside seats for minorities on provincial councils.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, a series of explosions struck mostly Shiite areas Sunday evening, killing at least 25 people and wounding 51, police reported. The attacks appeared aimed at reviving sectarian tensions that once threatened the nation with civil war.
Parliament last week approved a new law mandating elections in most of Iraq’s 18 provinces, but the law removed a system that reserved a few legislative seats for Christians and other religious minorities.
Lawmakers cited a lack of census data for determining the quotas, but many Christians saw the move as an effort to marginalize their community.
In a letter sent to parliament Sunday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appealed to the legislators and the electoral commission to restore the quota system.
Hundreds of Christians staged street protests after Sunday church services in and around Mosul, a northern city where many of Iraq’s Christians live. Some said the removal of the quotas is an attempt to force them to leave Iraq.
The string of explosions in the capital Sunday began near sundown as Muslims were preparing for Iftar, the meal that breaks the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
The deadliest blast occurred in the Karradah neighborhood, where a parked car loaded with explosives blew up in a commercial area about 7 p.m., killing 12 people and wounding 34, police and hospital officials said.
Iraqi police said that about 90 minutes earlier, two car bombs exploded nearly simultaneously in the Shurta Rabaa and Amil districts of west Baghdad, but the U.S. military said later that the car in Amil blew up because of an electrical fire.
Twelve people were killed and 35 wounded in the Shurta Rabaa blast, and one person died and two were injured in the Amil explosion, police said.
Also Sunday, an Iraqi official said the country signed preliminary deals with General Electric Co. and Siemens AG to upgrade the electricity grid, which has been ravaged by years of war, sanctions and neglect.
