Slaughter in Iraq. At least 132 people were killed and over 500 injured in two brutal terrorist attacks by suicide bombers in vehicles in central Baghdad. The high death toll makes the two explosions yesterday in the deadliest since 2007 and take place three months after U.S. troops would stop patrolling the cities.
The first attack occurred just after 9:00 am (two hours less in Spain), opposite the Ministry of Justice in the neighborhood of Al Salehiya, and also affected other two buildings: the headquarters of the Municipalities and the Public Works. All are located in Haifa Street, one of the main thoroughfares of the capital.
The second explosion came just 10 minutes later and about 500 meters from the Ministry of Justice. The bomber’s target was the building of the Interior. The shock wave also reached Al Mansour Hotel, headquarters of the Chinese Embassy and several foreign media.
The sector where there were two loud explosions near the Green Zone, the bunker that protects the Iraqi government and institutions that also houses the embassies of the United States and United Kingdom.
In a rare gesture, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki went personally to the scene. In images broadcast on television, Maliki appeared with serious expression of concern. Shortly thereafter, issued a statement condemning the massacre accused of al Qaeda and Baath Party members, the political party of the late dictator Saddam Hussein.
LOCK ELECTIONS / Maliki said the perpetrators of the attacks were aimed at “blocking the political process and elections. Iraq plans to hold the January 16 legislative elections, although the final date is pending for Parliament to sanction the new electoral Darkfall House Accessories, which already has the approval of the Government. The prime minister added that behind yesterday’s attacks “the same hand is stained black with the blood of Iraqi people who committed the attacks of 19 August.
At that time, two separate two suicide bombers blew up trucks loaded with explosives outside the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance. Then, about a hundred people were killed and five hundred were injured.
The government implicated the Syrian regime then in the attacks, which provoked a diplomatic crisis between both countries. Damascus denied the accusations, yesterday condemned the attacks, describing them as “criminal acts”. The president of Iraq, Kurdish Jalal Talabani urged the countries’ neighbors and distant “than to” refrain forever ‘of’ hosting and funding the forces that openly proclaim their hostility to the Iraqi state. ”
The U.S. president, Barack Obama, after hablarpor phone with Al Maliki and Talabani lamented the “murder of innocent men, women and children” and condemned those who through “hatred and destruction” deny “the Iraqi people future they deserve.
CONTROL THE SITUATION / While terrorist actions have declined dramatically in recent months, some Iraqi leaders and American analysts had warned of renewed violence due to the proximity of the legislation.
In any case, the attacks in August and registered again yesterday questioned the ability of Iraqi security forces to control their own country’s situation without the help of foreign troops in the streets. They also represent a setback for Prime Minister Maliki himself, whose political discourse is based largely on promises to improve security in the Arab country.