Iraq has its share of mad mullahs and radical ulema, but in the aftermath of this bombing, fingers are pointing at the revenge-minded Shi'ite political leaders responsible for unleashing angry mobs, whose preferred choice of target has become Sunni religious sites.

Hundreds of thousands of angry Shi'ites shoved aside the poorly disciplined Iraqi security forces and leant their ears to the sectarian militias run by leading Shi'ite political parties. Instead of calming the situation, they unleashed a torrent of bombings and killings directed against Sunni mosques, mullahs and terrified civilians. If anything, these acts confirmed Sunni fears that a Shi'ite-led government would never come to their rescue against militia affiliated with leading government parties.

For much of the past two weeks, Sunnis and Shi'ites have traded bombs and mortar fire. At least 68 people were killed on Tuesday, a day after authorities lifted a curfew that had briefly restored calm following a series of sectarian attacks kicked off by the February 22 incident.

Among Tuesday's attacks, a car bombing at the Shi'ite Abdel Hadi Chalabi Mosque killed 23 and wounded 55 and a suicide bombing killed 23 at an eastern Baghdad petrol station. Iraqi police also found nine bullet-riddled bodies, including a Sunni Muslim tribal sheikh, at the side of a road southeast of the capital.

Not only has the surge in violence further traumatised residents already shaken by fears that Iraq is teetering on the brink of civil war, it also brings into question the struggle to form a broad-based government consisting of Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds. Revenge-minded Shiite political leaders continue to resist the formation for a broadly inclusive national government. Unless these political groups are willing to make needed concessions and work together, all of the international help in the world will not be enough to create a stable democracy in this country of so much potential.

It is high time that some of the Shi'ite leaders rise to the challenge and provide strong leadership for the country's largest ethnic community.

The Kurdish leaders who control the northern part of the country could play their cards better by demanding a broadly representative national government, possibly even withholding their support for a Shi'ite prime minister unless such a government is agreed upon.

The Sunni leaders, on the other hand, must swallow a bitter pill and accept that they are a minority in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

Any repercussions of a civil war could spread far beyond Iraq's borders and put the entire Middle East into a tailspin. The Shi'ite in the South could drift further into Iran's sphere, and the Kurds in the North could call it quits and declare independence. And the central Sunnis could simply be left to themselves - impoverished and a potential home base for international terrorists.

Iraq's leaders can still save their country from falling apart, but a blanket statement will not be enough. They are going to have to make concessions for the sake of the whole. Time is rapidly running out before the ongoing sectarian violence takes its toll on the entire country.