BAGHDAD: A series of blasts in Baghdad killed 95 people and wounded 536 in Iraq’s bloodiest day this year, prompting a rare admission of culpability from Iraqi security forces.
At least six blasts struck near government ministries and other targets weeks after US combat troops withdrew from urban centers in June, thrusting Iraq’s security forces into the lead role.
“This operation shows negligence, and is considered a security breach for which Iraqi forces must take most of the blame,” Maj. Gen. Qassim Al-Moussawi, Baghdad’s security spokesman, told Iraqiya state TV. Wednesday’s blasts were a rare example of a coordinated attack on heavily guarded targets.
In one blast, a massive truck bomb close to a security checkpoint leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone blew out the windows of the nearby Foreign Ministry, sending shards of glass through busy offices, killing dozens of people.
“The windows of the Foreign Ministry shattered, killing the people inside. I could see ministry workers, journalists and security guards among the dead,” said a distraught ministry employee who gave her name as Asia.
The explosion was powerful enough to shatter some windows of Iraq’s parliament building in the Green Zone. The attacks could undermine confidence in Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki before the parliamentary election.
In a statement, Al-Maliki called for a review of security plans, but added that the attacks were aimed at “raising doubts about our armed forces, which have proven themselves very capable of confronting terrorists.”
Analysts and members of the public disagreed. “They are meant to convey a message to Iraqis and the world that insurgents are still there and can block the political process,” said analyst Hameed Fadhel of Baghdad University.
“Today’s attacks reveal a major deficiency and weakness of the security forces. They were organized and huge,” he added.
Normally busy Baghdad streets emptied, and the few people still outside poured scorn on Iraq’s security forces.
“I don’t think this is the work of terrorists, I think this is settling of scores by political groups ... Iraqi forces are only capable of doing routine things, without efficiency,” said traffic policeman Louay Mohammed.
Laborer Haythem Adil said: “The security forces don’t provide security, they just cause traffic.”
No group claimed responsibility, but Moussawi said two members of Al-Qaeda were arrested when another car bomb was intercepted. Iraqi television later showed a truck loaded with water tankers stuffed with explosives that had been disarmed.
Another truck bomb in Baghdad’s Waziriya district near the finance ministry killed at least 28 people and caused widespread destruction, police said. Part of a raised highway near the building collapsed, a Reuters witness said.
“Suddenly a powerful blast shook the building and glass flew ... Most employees were wounded by the flying glass and others, including myself, suffered concussion ... I awoke with blood all over my face,” said ministry worker Batoul Al-Amri.
Another explosion was close enough to Reuters’ offices in central Baghdad’s Karrada district to burst open windows and doors. Columns of smoke could be seen rising from several blast sites. The Baghdad provincial government building came under mortar attack, police said, as did the Salhiya district in central Baghdad, home to army bases and a television station.
At least one suspected mortar landed near the United Nations compound in the Green Zone, startling UN workers marking the sixth anniversary of the destruction of their previous Baghdad headquarters by a truck bomb which killed envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and other staff, UN guards said.
In Bayaa, in southern Baghdad, a blast killed two people.
