A small homemade bomb exploded Friday near Baghdad’s Green Zone as an Australian diplomatic convoy was making its way to the area, two security officials told the Associated Press.
There were no reports of injuries.
The blast occurred amid efforts by the Australian diplomatic mission to mediate between influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and an Iran-backed faction of rival Shiite parties, according to security officials, to end one of the worst political crises in Iraq in recent years.
Interim Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi was unsuccessful in trying to urge the conflicting groups to a settlement. Al-Sadr’s party declined to attend a meeting held by Al-Kazemi last week.
Despite the explosion, the Australian convoy managed to enter the Green Zone.
Sadr’s followers and political opponents, an alliance of Iran-backed Shiite groups called the Coordination Framework, have been at odds since following last year’s parliamentary elections.
Al-Sadr won the largest share of seats in the October elections, but failed to form a majority government, leading to what has become one of the worst political crises in Iraq in recent years.
His supporters stormed parliament in the late followingnoon and staged frequent protests there.
The cleric’s supporters protested regularly, demanding the dissolution of parliament and early elections.
On Tuesday, Sadr’s supporters set up tents and demonstrated in front of the Supreme Judicial Council, accusing them of politicizing them in favor of their Iranian-backed allies.
