Carnage in Iraq as 63 people die in blasts targeting 17 cities

A RELENTLESS barrage of bombings killed 63 people yesterday in the most sweeping and coordinated attack Iraq has seen in over a year, striking 17 cities from northern Sunni areas to the southern Shi’ite heartland.

The surprising scope and sophistication of the bloodbath suggested that al-Qaida remains resilient despite recent signs of weakness. Such attacks, infrequent as they are deadly, will likely continue long after American forces withdraw from Iraq.

“This is our destiny,” said Eidan Mahdi, one of more than 250 Iraqis wounded yesterday. Mahdi was lying in a hospital bed in the southern city of Kut. One of his eyes was closed shut with dried blood, and burns covered his hands and head.

While some Iraqis expressed resignation, others voiced fury at security officials and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

“Where is the government with all these explosions across the country? Where is al-Maliki? Why doesn’t he come to see?” said Ali Jumaa Ziad, a Kut shop owner. Ziad was brushing pieces of human flesh from the floor and off equipment in his shop.

The bombs went off on a sunny morning as people were headed to work. Explosive devices were planted in the vests of suicide attackers, in parked cars, along the sides of roads and even on light poles.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the simultaneous attacks, the targeting of Shi’ite civilians and Iraqi security forces and the use of suicide bombers indicated that al-Qaida in Iraq was responsible.

That the terror group was able to pull off such an attack, spanning half of Iraq’s 18 provinces, came as somewhat of a surprise.

A little over a year ago, US and Iraqi officials said the deaths of al-Qaida in Iraq’s two top leaders in a raid had dealt a severe blow to the organisation.

The group has suffered from a drop in funding and just last week was calling on former members to come back to the fold, a sign of the group’s diminished status. But time and again, al-Qaida in Iraq has shown an ability to resurrect itself.

Yesterday’s violence came less than two weeks after Iraqi officials said they would discuss with the US whether to have some American forces stay in the country past their December 31 withdrawal deadline. US officials have offered to keep about 10,000 of the 46,000 soldiers currently here into next year if Iraq agrees.

Karasik said the timing may be no coincidence, and that al-Qaida may be using reverse psychology. Greater violence could lead to calls for the US to extend its military presence, but the terror group knows the US is very unlikely to resume a full-scale combat mission and the troop numbers would be too small to make much of a difference.

“If the US extends its military presence, al-Qaida in Iraq can use it as a tool by saying, ‘Look, the Americans have reversed their decision to leave and are staying on as occupiers.’ They could use this as a justification for more attacks,” Karasik said.

President Barack Obama’s spokesman, Jay Carney, said the White House condemned the bombings, but emphasised that overall violence was down.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington that the US remains concerned about terrorist attacks. “We consider these to be desperate acts by desperate people.

“We believe that the Iraqi security forces are getting stronger by the day. And our goal is to continue to strengthen them. And we remain on track to withdraw all our forces at the end of the year.”