26 die in Iraq
2012-06-17 08:44
Baghdad - Two car bombs in Iraq's capital killed at least 26 people on Saturday on the last day of a Shi'ite pilgrimage already hit by multiple bombings. The blasts, one in a heavily guarded area close to a revered shrine, raised the week's death toll to more than 100 and cast further doubt on the divided government's ability to secure the country after the American withdrawal.
Black plumes of smoke filled the sky over Baghdad's northern Kazimiyah neighbourhood, where the shrine to eighth-century saint Imam Moussa al-Kadhim draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year. One of the bombs tore into throngs of people who packed the streets nearby, carrying aloft symbolic coffins and beating their chests in mourning to mark his martyrdom.
Three days before, nearly two dozen coordinated bombs around the country killed 72 people. Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate on Saturday claimed responsibility for that attack, which marked one of the deadliest days in Iraq since the last US troops left in December.
The fierce wave of bombings targeting Shi'ites suggests that the al-Qaeda-allied Sunni militants are stepping up their periodic attacks - which recently have come every few weeks - to try to exploit sectarian cracks in the elected government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and possibly spark another round of the bloodshed between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war only a few years ago. Shi'ite religious commemorations are frequent targets of these attacks, although overall levels of violence are still down considerably from then.
Number of blasts
The sheer number of blasts during the al-Kadhim pilgrimage shows the ability of al-Qaeda to retain and perhaps rebuild its bombings networks despite heavy blows struck to the organisation by US forces and allied Sunni militias prior to the American withdrawal. The bombers' ability to penetrate so close to the shrine indicates the challenges faced by Iraq's security forces in securing huge religious gatherings.
"Those behind the attacks, they've become more determined now and see more of an opportunity because of the dysfunctional political process," said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center and an analyst on regional politics.
The government is now split on mostly sectarian lines and over what critics say are al-Maliki's increasingly authoritarian tendencies. Sunni and Kurdish politicians say he is trying to increase his power at their communities' expense. While the wholesale violence between Sunni and Shi'ite neighbourhoods and villages that killed tens of thousands in 2006 and 2007 has all but disappeared, the political tension has fostered a growing sense of pessimism.
"It's a fairly bleak picture right now," Shaikh said. He added, "This is quite depressing, considering we are approaching a decade since the initial invasion into Iraq."
The US hailed the invasion it led in 2003 to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein over his suspected weapons of mass destruction programme as an opportunity to set up a model democracy in the Middle East. The US troops left an elected government behind when they withdrew, but it still cannot provide basic services like reliable electricity.
No real security
Saturday's bombings highlighted the relative weakness of Iraq's security forces, unable to stop the attacks despite throwing up roadblocks, banning motorcycles and putting tens and thousands of police and soldiers around the city. After the explosions came grumblings that those measures were insufficient.
"There is no real security, no real searches," said Mohamed Ali, who witnessed the first bombing in Shula, where authorities a few hours later were towing away the burned remains of a car. "Today is an exceptional day all security forces must be on high alert."
- SAPA
