Hopes that Iraq's rival factions would come together to build a government of national unity faded last night as a wave of reprisal attacks followed the bombing of one of the holiest Shia sites.

Sunni politicians yesterday pulled out of talks to form a government, while Shia leaders demanded that their militias be allowed to keep order as attacks across the country claimed the lives of more than 100 people in the wake of the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra.