NYT: 'Insurgents across Iraq launched their most significant and wide-ranging attacks in months on Monday, killing 68 people and wounding over 300, marking the most violent day in Iraq this year.
The violence touched nearly every region of the country, except for Kurdistan, and appeared to be aimed at security forces in both Sunni and Shiite areas.
In all, there were 37 attacks, more than double the daily average this year, nearing the level of violence at the height of the sectarian conflict here in 2006 and 2007. The attacks included 11 car bombs, 19 improvised explosive devices and 2 suicide bombers.
Coming a little less than two weeks after the Iraqi government said it would negotiate with the United States about keeping some of its 48,000 troops here after the end of the year, the violence raised significant questions about the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks on Monday. But in a voice recording posted on a Web site for Al Qaeda in Iraq last week, the spokesman for the terrorist group said that they were preparing a wide-scale attack.
“I promise you that we are on the right path,” said the spokesman, Abi Muhhamed al-Adnani. “Thank God that we are doing very well here.”
“Do not worry, the days of Zarqawi are going to return soon,” he said, referring to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq who was killed by American forces in 2006. “We have men who have divorced themselves from life and love death more than you love life and killing is one of their wishes,” he said.'
10 comments :
Whenever I read about a terriorist spokesman like al-Adnani boast about how superior their group because they love death more than everyone else loves life; I most sincerely wish that he and his superiors who indoctrinate and send out the terriorists, especially the suicide bombers, will be dispatched to join al-Zargawi in whatever fire he is in as soon as possible!
Not bad, but the barrier to break is 100 killed, or ideally a 4-digit number at once. Then Maliki's trone of oppression should begin to shake
"The sprawling attacks, including suicide bombers, car explosions and militants firing Kalashnikov rifles, struck from north to south throughout the morning in what appeared to be a coordinated plan. Soldiers, police officers and market shoppers were targeted in Najaf, Kut, Baghdad, Baqubah and other areas."
Was Maliki in Najaf or Kut? Seems like more sectarian attacks to me. Your peeps can only kill market shoppers. Did one of your schmucks see a bald man wearing glasses in the market and thought it was Maliki or something? Or did you kill a bunch of women and kids?
"It appeared Iraq was in a time warp, a nation still struggling with terrorists, sectarian gangs and militias at a time much of the Arab world is moving to replace extremism through revolutions for democracy. The violence seemed intent on disrupting the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki as U.S. forces are preparing to leave eight years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
There were more than 35 attacks nationwide, shattering the relative calm of recent months. The deadliest was in the southern city of Kut, where an explosion whirled through a marketplace. Minutes later, as onlookers gathered, a car bomb detonated, killing at least 33 people and injuring 77, according to a security official."
"There seems little doubt that most of the attacks were carried out by Sunni Arab militants opposed to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite Islamist, given the nature of the attacks and the types of targets: Security officials supporting his writ, civilians in largely Shiite towns in the south, and Sunni Arabs who had joined hands with the government."
"The Minister of Higher Education's convoy was attacked in Baghdad's wealthy diplomatic neighborhood of Mansour. Capping the day's violence off was an attack in Youssifiyah. The Associated Press reports that a group of men in military uniforms entered a mosque there during evening prayers yesterday, dragged out seven men and then murdered them. According to the report, the victims were all members of a militia that had fought with the Sunni insurgency in Iraq, but who had switched sides during the US troop surge into the country. The AP writes that witnesses heard the murderers declaring themselves members of the Islamic State of Iraq, hard-line Islamists who espouse similar goals to Al Qaeda."
Its a stretch, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Syrian regime is encouraging scum to go over the border again and wage war against Iraq. Assad would love nothing more than to go back to the old days of 2006-07, when all of the major "analysts" believed that our only hope to keep Iraq from going off a cliff was through close diplomacy with his government.
That won't happen though...and neither will the "days of Zarqawi". The idiot Al-Qaeda commander who said that will end up shot to death after hiding in a hole, just like Al-Masri.
Coincidence again. The political season in Iran is underway and there is trouble in Syria...Iraq explodes with violence.
And to someone up there, the just because things go boom in the shi'a areas does not mean it was the Sunni. The Shi'a are more than capable of blowing themselves up to stir up the people and build up the militias..done it before.
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