Coordinated blasts hit Baghdad; kill at least 121
BAGHDAD -- A series of coordinated attacks struck Baghdad Tuesday, including two suicide car bombers and another vehicle that blew up near government sites. At least 121 were killed and hundreds wounded in the worst wave of violence in the capital in more than a month, authorities said.
A total of five attacks, which also included a suicide car bomb on a police patrol, showed the ability of insurgents to strike high-profile targets in the heart of Baghdad and marked the third time since August that government buildings were targeted with multiple blasts that killed more than 100 people.
The bombings reinforced concerns about shortcomings in Iraqi security as U.S. forces plan their withdrawal, and parliament held an emergency session with many lawmakers demanding answers for apparent security lapses.
Iraq's military spokesman blamed the carnage on an alliance of al-Qaida in Iraq and members of Saddam Hussein's banned Baath Party.
The U.S. military has sent some troops and forensic equipment to assist the Iraqis in the aftermath, said Army Master Sgt. Nicholas Conner, a military spokesman.
Overall violence has dropped sharply around Iraq in the past year, though insurgents have stepped up attacks at government sites in recent months. The bombings marked the most serious spate of violence in Baghdad since twin car bombs on Oct. 25 struck outside government offices, killing at least 155. In August, suicide bombers hit the finance and foreign ministries, killing more than 100.
Iraqi officials blamed the August and October attacks on al-Qaida in Iraq and loyalists of the Baath Party - even bringing out three suspects on national television who gave what officials termed confessions.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attacks, though al-Qaida in Iraq had said it was behind the last two massive bombings against government buildings in Baghdad in August and October.
But there are questions whether Iraq's leaders are trying to shift attention away from a possible resurgence of Sunni insurgents led by al-Qaida in Iraq. A rise in insurgent power could be a serious blow to the government's credibility before national elections, which were set Tuesday for March 6 - a more than seven-week delay from the original mid-January date because of political bickering on the voting rules.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs condemned the attacks, saying Iraqi leaders who recently passed an elections law were moving the country in the right direction and that "there are clearly those who are threatened by that."
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack, calling the bloodshed "horrendous."
In a joint statement, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill and Gen. Raymond Odierno, America's top commander in Iraq, called on Iraqis to unite against violence and pledged to assist the government "to bring to justice those individuals or groups responsible for such murder."
Source: Washington Post
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