Al Qaeda Front Group Claims Responsiblity For Wave Of Attacks In Baghdad Amid Rising Fears Of Iraq's Future

From the Daily Mail:

An Al Qaeda front group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the wave of attacks that ripped through Baghdad on a single day last week, killing 69 people and raising new fears about the country's future.

A suicide car bomber and multiple roadside bombs hit the capital's mainly Shi'ite areas on December 22 in the first attacks there since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq on December 18.

A further suicide bombing near the country's interior ministry yesterday which killed seven people has added to fears over the country's future.

Today's claim of responsibility made no mention of the U.S. withdrawal.

Instead, it focused its rage on the country's Shiite-dominated leadership, which Sunni insurgents have battled since it came to power as a result of the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

'The series of special invasions (was) launched ... to support the weak Sunnis in the prisons of the apostates and to retaliate for the captives who were executed,' said the statement from the 'Islamic State of Iraq'.

According to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organisation that monitors jihadist web traffic, the claim of responsibility was posted late on Boxing Day on militant websites.

The group said the attacks were proof that they 'know where and when to strike and the mujahedeen will never stand with their hands tied while the pernicious Iranian project shows its ugly face'.

The remark was in reference to accusations by Sunni militants that Iraq's Shiite-dominated government has allied itself too closely with neighbouring Shiite power Iran, a bitter enemy of Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Overall violence in Iraq has dropped since the peak of sectarian fighting in 2006-07 but bombings and killings still occur almost daily.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has been weakened by deaths of leaders but there are fears the group will try to regroup and strengthen its presence following the withdrawal of U.S. troops almost nine years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The Baghdad military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, said Al Qaeda in Iraq - no longer focused on fighting U.S. forces - is hoping to take advantage of the current political tension to re-ignite sectarian warfare.

'It has become a clear scheme to draw Iraq into a sectarian war again,' he said. 'Al-Qaeda in Iraq played a major role in 2005 and 2006 in pushing the country into a civil war and they succeeded.'

Along with the security challenge, Iraq is facing an increase in political tension as Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is engaged in a showdown with the top Sunni political leader in the country.

Al-Maliki's government has issued an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on charges that he ran hit squads against government officials.

Al-Hashemi has denied the charges and said they are politically motivated.