At least 80 people were killed and more than 350 injured when a coordinated series of bombs were set off across the length and breadth of Iraq on Monday.
Believed to be the work of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQIR), the bombings have shaken the people’s confidence in the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and called into question the competence of Iraq’s security forces. The attacks alsoraise concerns about the US withdrawal deadline of January 1, 2012 being met, as insurgents rev up the frequency and severity of their strikes in advance of that date. As America makes plans to leave, Iraq drifts evermore into Iran’s orbit and the Shia-dominated government does little to stem the attacks on Christian churches, while Sunni on Shia violence threatens to break out once again.Occurring in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, authorities count at least 31 attacks that targeted seventeen cities. A similar series of attacks occurred last year at this time and were traced to AQIR. The worst attacks took place in the city of Kut, where a bomb planted in a juice machine exploded in a crowded market, killing dozens. Then, the AQIR signature to the attack occurred when a car bomb detonated as a crowd gathered to assist the wounded and tend to the dead from the first attack. At least 60 Iraqi civilians lost their lives, with more than 80 wounded.
Iraq’s security forces were also targeted on Monday
as a car bomb went off outside a police station near Karbala, killing eight, and asuicide attacker dressed as a policeman walked into a police station in Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit and detonated his vest, killing three.
Even the Sunni Awakening Councils — former insurgents who laid down their arms to fight AQIR in 2007 — were not immune from the violence. Several gunmen dressed as policemen entered a mosque just south of Baghdad andcalled out seven members of the local council. They were summarily executed. Read the rest on: FrontPageMagazine.com
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