An al-Qaeda in Iraq front group claimed responsibility for a deadly assault on the Central Bank on Sunday in which suicide bombers wearing military uniforms stormed the country’s most important financial institution during rush hour in Baghdad.
The hours-long attack differed from the Iraqi terror network’s trademark car and truck bombings, a shift in tactics as the group struggles to regroup after being routed in a series of US-Iraqi offensives.
Experts said the complex nature of the attack suggested the group’s new leadership could be taking cues from the Taliban’s success with similar operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been blamed for many of the deadly suicide strikes that have targeted the Foreign Ministry and other government institutions over the past year.
Sunday’s violence differed because it involved bombings as well as an effort by suicide bombers to force their way into the building while battling with security forces. Such attacks were common during the sectarian violence that nearly pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007, but they were usually blamed on Shiite militias or other groups.
Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said it could be an attempt to evade the tightened security around government institutions following the ministry bombings earlier this year.
“It’s not unusual for Iraq, but it is unusual for al-Qaeda in Iraq,” he said. “It could be that they were certainly influenced and motivated by the succession of attacks ... that have taken place in Kabul against government institutions.”
The attack began with a series of bombs that tore through the commercial district near the central bank. Then insurgents trying to get into the building battled security forces for about three hours, bringing one of the busiest parts of the capital to a standstill as employees fled the area.
In all, as many as 26 people were killed and dozens wounded from the bombings and the shooting.
In a statement posted on Thursday on a militant Web site, the Islamic State of Iraq, which includes al-Qaeda, said five men armed with weapons and explosive belts were sent in what it called a “unique” attack against the financial institution.
“The bank was targeted because it is the artery that feeds the Satanic alliance with life via oil money and the stolen wealth of Muslims,” the statement said, using common militant rhetoric for the US and its allies.
Photos posted on the same Web site showed the disfigured heads and body parts of men dressed in army fatigues buried in the rubble of what al-Qaeda said is the Central Bank.
Video surveillance footage from the Central Bank showed an armed man dressed in army fatigues storm in the bank’s back door and exchange fire with security guards. He is shot in the leg and falls to the ground before his explosive vest detonates. Two other militants then flee the bank while shooting behind them, then set off their vests.
The assault has stoked fears that insurgents are taking advantage of political deadlock following March 7 elections to try to derail security gains as the US prepares to withdraw its forces by the end of next year.
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