A rapid series of attacks spread over a wide swath of Iraqi territory killed at least 50 people yesterday, targeting mostly security forces in what appeared to be another strike by al-Qaeda militants bent on destabilizing the country.
The apparently coordinated bombings and shootings unfolded over two-and-a-half hours in the capital Baghdad — where most of the deaths were — and 11 other cities. They struck government offices, restaurants and one in the town of Musayyib hit close to an elementary school. More than 200 people were injured.
“What is happening today are not simple security violations — it is a huge security failure and disaster,” said Ahmed al-Tamimi, who was working at an Education Ministry office a block away from a restaurant that was bombed in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah in northern Baghdad.
He described a hellish scene of human flesh and pools of blood at the scene.
“We want to know: What were the thousands of policemen and soldiers in Baghdad doing today while the terrorists were roaming the city and spreading violence?” al-Tamimi said.
There have been a series of large-scale attacks by insurgents since the last US troops left Iran in mid-December at the end of a nearly 10-year war. Shortly after the withdrawal, a major political crisis with sectarian undertones erupted as well when Shiite-dominated authorities sought to arrest Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, on allegations he commandeered death squads targeting security forces and government officials.
NO CLAIMS YET
While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, targeting security officials is a hallmark of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
In December, a wave of bombs tore through mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing 69 people in a similar onslaught of violence that Sunni-dominated al-Qaeda claimed.
Security forces appeared to be targeted nationwide in at least 14 separate attacks, including a drive-by shooting in Baghdad that killed six policemen at a checkpoint before dawn.
Police patrols in the capital and beyond also were besieged by roadside bombs and, in once case, a suicide bomber who blew up his car outside a police station in the city of Baqubah, 60km northeast of Baghdad.
Iraq’s police are generally considered to be the weakest element of the country’s security forces, and 20 were killed earlier this week by a suicide bomber outside the Baghdad police academy that angry residents blamed on political feuding that is roiling Iraq.
However, the latest violence spilled onto commuters, restaurant patrons, passers-by and school children as well.
In the single deadliest strike, a car bomb in Baghdad’s downtown shopping district of Karradah killed nine people and wounded 26. The blast effects could be felt blocks away, shaking buildings and windows. Associated Press TV footage of the scene showed people walking away from the scene, covered in blood.
SCHOOLCHILDREN HURT
In Musayyib, a car bomb parked on the street between a restaurant and an elementary school killed one person and wounded 62.
Most of the injured were school children, said police and health officials.
The casualties were tallied by local security and hospital officials in the cities where the attacks occurred. Nearly all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Late on Wednesday, Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced the capture of Waleed Khalid Ali, accused as a top leader of the Ansar al-Sunna insurgent group linked to al-Qaeda. The government said Ali was caught trying to enter Iraq from Syria, where al-Qaeda groups recently have been surging to assist opposition forces seeking the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
However, the coordinated nature of yesterday’s attacks show the likely were planned long before the arrest. A Western diplomatic security official said recent intelligence indicated that an unspecified attack was in the works.
Widespread violence has decreased since just a few years ago when Iraq teetered on the brink of civil war. But bombings and deadly shootings still happen almost daily.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion