Iraq's Security Forces ...[ 2949 ]

Deadly Blasts Target Iraq's Security Forces

• MIDDLE EAST NEWS
• Updated September 30, 2012, 7:33 p.m. ET

By ALI A. NABHAN in Baghdad and SAM DAGHER in Beirut

Dozens of Iraqis were killed or wounded in a series of bombings that shook the capital Baghdad and adjacent provinces, security officials said, replicating a pattern of multiple attacks on a single day that have been occurring every few weeks.

Associated Press

Iraqi policemen help an injured colleague after an attack in Baghdad, one of a series of bombings on Sunday.

As in previous attacks, including a barrage of bombings and assassinations three weeks ago, most of Sunday's bombings targeted Iraq's security forces and the Shiite majority.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the violence, but the al Qaeda-linked Sunni militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq vowed over the summer to topple the current Shiite-led government.
An Interior Ministry official said the perpetrators detonated at least nine bombs attached to parked cars in Baghdad in the path of police and army patrols and a suicide bomber drove an explosives-packed car into a security checkpoint in the predominantly Shiite city of Kut southeast of Baghdad. He said at least 26 people were killed and 59 others wounded in the attacks, which also included a car bomb at a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of the capital.
The latest round of bloodletting follows a major security lapse Friday in which dozens of inmates, including convicted extremists suspected of ties to al Qaeda, escaped from a prison in the predominantly Sunni Muslim city of Tikrit north of Baghdad after overpowering and killing some of their guards.
Sabhan Mullah Jiyad, a deputy provincial council chief in Tikrit, said some of the fugitives were captured or killed but more than 75 inmates remain on the run, adding that their escape was facilitated by some members of the police force responsible for the prison. "Of course there was collusion," he said.
He said the incident began Thursday when some prison wardens unexpectedly opened some cells hours after lawmakers in Baghdad failed to reach agreement on an amnesty law that could see thousands of prisoners pardoned for the sake of national reconciliation.

Reuters

Iraqi security personnel stand at the site of a bomb attack in Kut, 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, Sunday.

Some inmates then gained access to weapons stored in the armory and a firefight ensued in which more than a dozen security officers were killed, said provincial officials. The government was only able to regain control over the prison early Friday after military reinforcements arrived from Baghdad.
Tensions between the Shiite-led government and Sunni communities across Iraq have increased since the departure of U.S. troops from the country in December. The conflict in neighboring Syria, where Sunni rebels are battling a Shiite-linked regime with the help of regional Sunni states such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, has also invigorated Sunni insurgents in Iraq.
Sunni grievances are also compounded by what they view as trumped up and politically motivated charges against Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni vice president. Three weeks ago, he was sentenced in absentia to death by hanging for allegedly ordering and funding attacks against Shiite officials. Mr. Hashemi has denied the charges, but he remains outside the country and has been sheltered by the Turkish government since April.
In a move bound to fan further tensions between Turkish leaders and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a defiant Mr. Hashemi on Sunday addressed an annual congress for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party in Ankara in the presence of Arab and Muslim leaders.