Iraq's leader condemns latest round of bombings

Iraq’s prime minister has condemned the latest round of bombings that left dozens of his countrymen dead, and vowed that his government’s “rational, political struggle” would prevail over “criminal acts”.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, speaking at a news conference in Dearborn, near Detroit in the US, said: “I share with the people their sorrow and their grief. They are martyrs.”

More than a dozen explosions ripped through Baghdad today, killing more than 100 people and wounding more than 500 in a series of attacks. The one-day death toll was believed to be the worst in the Iraqi capital since major combat ended in May 2003.

“Those criminals will not run away from our justice system. Our cities, our villages will not welcome them,” al-Jaafari said. “This criminal act will unite the Iraqi people more and more.”

It was the worst single day of bloodshed since March 2, 2004, when coordinated blasts from suicide bombers, mortars and planted explosives hit Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and in Baghdad, killing at least 181 and wounding 573.

Hours after today’s bombings in Baghdad, an internet statement in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq said the attacks were in retaliation for the US-Iraqi military offensive in the city of Tel Afar.

The statement did not detail the bombings that took place in the Iraqi capital, but it appeared to claim responsibility for them.

“To the nation of Islam, we give you the good news that the battles of revenge for the Sunni people of Tel Afar began yesterday,” the statement said.

“We will give you more news about operations in Baghdad and other cities as soon as we receive them,” the statement added.

The authenticity of the statement could not be verified, but it appeared on a website that serves as a clearing house for statements from radical Islamic groups and it was signed by Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, the spokesman of al-Qaida in Iraq.

The operations were launched by the “martyrdom-seekers brigade” and the “brigades of monotheism,” the statement said. Al Qaida in Iraq has often referred to itself as the champion of “monotheism.”

It said the brigades had been told to target “the heads of the infidel Jews and Crusaders and the Shiites”.

The statement said that Muslims should “be happy and ululate”.