WORLD News ‘Attacks bring Iraq's deadliest day in 2 years’

WORLD News ‘Serangan membawa hari dahsyat

di Iraq dalam 2 tahun’

By Mardiana hamden | earthWatch REVIEW2012: 24, July, 2012

BAGHDAD (AP) - Kekejangan mengejutkan keganasan menggeleng-gelengkan lebih daripada sedozen bandar-bandar Iraq Isnin, membunuh lebih 100 orang dalam pengeboman dan tembakan terselaras dan mencederakan 2 kali ganda dalam sehari dahsyat negara dalam lebih daripada 2 tahun.

Serangan datang hanya beberapa hari selepas al-Qaeda mengumumkan bahawa ia akan cuba kembali semula dengan serangan baru terhadap kerajaan yang lemah Iraq. Dengan tentera Amerika Syarikat pergi dan kerajaan terperangkap dalam perbalahan dalaman, sayap Iraq al-Qaeda telah berikrar untuk merebut kembali kawasan itu sekali dikawal dan tolak negara kembali ke arah perang saudara. Walaupun terdapat tiada tuntutan serta-merta tanggungjawab untuk serangan hari ini, hampir semua melanda di ibu kota dan di bandar-bandar utara Iraq di mana al-Qaeda yang paling mudah boleh kembali bertapak.

"Pengganas membuka 1 lagi pintu neraka bagi kami," kata Kamiran Karim, penjual gula-gula di bandar utara Kirkuk, yang dilanda oleh 5 kereta meletup sepanjang pagi. Beliau mengalami luka serpihan apabila salah satu daripada bom kereta meletupkan kira-kira 200 meter (ela) dari cart.

Setakat musim panas ini, militan yang dikaitkan dengan al-Qaeda telah mendakwa tanggungjawab untuk drumbeat serangan yang direka untuk memastikan kerajaan kira-kira tidak stabil kerana ia berfungsi untuk mengatasi perebutan kuasa yang lubang Sunni dan Kurdish pemimpin terhadap Perdana Menteri Syiah. Perbalahan dalaman, yang meningkat hari selepas tentera Amerika Syarikat keluar Disember lepas, semua tetapi lumpuh kerajaan dan mendalam ketegangan mazhab di seluruh negara.

Pegawai Iraq dan Amerika Syarikat menegaskan al-Qaeda tidak berupaya menyemai jenis keganasan yang menyeluruh yang akan kembali Iraq peperangan mazhab. Dan sememangnya, militia Syiah setakat ini telah diadakan semula daripada membalas tembakan. Tetapi serangan hari ini membuktikan keupayaan berterusan al-Qaeda untuk menggagalkan keselamatan, melemahkan kerajaan dan mewujudkan huru-hara dalam sebuah negara demokrasi yang rapuh pada pakar takut menuju negeri yang gagal.

Presiden Iraq, Jalal Talabani, Kurd, menuduh militan "menyebarkan panik dan ketakutan" dan menggesa parti-parti politik untuk menyelesaikan perbezaan mereka dan membantu memulihkan kestabilan. Banyak serangan hari ini adalah yang menakjubkan dalam skop dan keberanian mereka. Mereka menanggung mercu tanda al-Qaeda, berlaku dalam tempoh beberapa jam antara satu sama lain dan menarik terutamanya pada pasukan keselamatan, pegawai kerajaan dan kejiranan Syiah.

Dalam 1 serangan yang kurang ajar, 3 buah kereta penuh dengan lelaki bersenjata di tarik di pangkalan tentera Iraq berhampiran bandar timur laut Udaim dan melepaskan tembakan, membunuh 13 orang askar sebelum melarikan diri, 2 pegawai kanan polis berkata.

Dalam 1 lagi, sebuah bom kereta meletup di luar pejabat kerajaan di Sadr City, kejiranan miskin, Syiah luas di timur laut Baghdad. 16 orang yang telah mati. "Satu-satunya perkara yang saya ingat ialah asap dan api, yang ada di merata-rata," kata Mohammed Munim, seorang pekerja di pejabat yang bangun di dalam bilik kecemasan berhampiran dengan serpihan bom di leher dan belakangnya.

Serangan yang menakutkan, walau bagaimanapun, berlaku di utara Baghdad di bandar Taji, di mana pengeboman 2 membunuh sekurang-kurangnya 41 orang. Letupan telah ditetapkan masanya untuk letupan sebagai polis bergegas untuk membantu mangsa daripada 1 siri 5 letupan beberapa minit lebih awal.

Angka kematian sekurang-kurangnya 110 adalah yang paling teruk untuk 1 hari di Iraq sejak Mei 10, 2010, apabila rentetan serangan di seluruh negara mengorbankan sekurang-kurangnya 119 orang. Lebar semata-mata pertumpahan darah hari ini harkened kembali ke hari-hari paling berdarah pergaduhan mazhab Iraq pada tahun 2007, apabila ia adalah perkara biasa untuk lebih daripada 100 orang mati dalam sehari.

Ia kelihatan seperti permulaan kempen baru al-Qaeda di Iraq yang digelar "Breaking Wall," yang telah diumumkan lewat minggu lepas oleh pemimpin, pemberontakan tempatan, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Dalam 1 kenyataan yang dikeluarkan hari Sabtu di laman web militan, al-Baghdadi memberi amaran bahawa Negara Islam Iraq kembali ke kubu kuat yang telah dihalau oleh tentera Amerika. Negara Islam Iraq adalah nama rasmi untuk kumpulan berkaitan al-Qaeda.

"Majoriti Sunni di Iraq sokongan al-Qaeda dan sedang menunggu untuk kembali," kata al-Baghdadi. Pada kemuncaknya, al-Qaeda di Iraq brutalized mangsa dengan beheadings publisiti, pengeboman berani mati dan bom tepi jalan yang disasarkan kerajaan Syiah, tentera Ameika Syarikat dan orang awam Iraq sama-sama. Dalam usaha untuk menghalau militia Syiah untuk bertindak balas, Al-Qaeda mengebom dihormati al-Askari Syiah kuil di Samarra pada tahun 2006 - serangan yang dilancarkan keturunan Iraq kepada lebih daripada 3 tahun pertempuran mazhab.

Tetapi sayap Iraq al-Qaeda telah dipinggirkan oleh kepimpinan pusat rangkaian keganasan di seluruh DUNIA, yang ditegurkan untuk membunuh orang awam. Pemberontakan yang dibuat siri missteps lain - mengenakan disiplin Islam yang terlalu ketat dan mengasingkan pemimpin puak yang melemahkan sokongan dalam masyarakat Sunni Iraq dan membantu membawa kepada Pembelotan meluas pejuang kepada kumpulan yang bersekutu dengan Amerika Syarikat.

Hasilnya, aliran pembiayaan, lengan dan pejuang perlahan kini hanya meleleh, dan al-Qaeda di Iraq telah bergelut untuk memerintahkan banyak kuasa. Baghdad penganalisis politik Hadi Jalo berkata pemberontakan kini berasa memberanikan oleh kejayaan pemberontakan dikuasai oleh Sunni di Syria jiran terhadap pemerintah Damsyik 'Alawite. Alawites adalah cabang Syiah Islam.

"Ia mengetuai perang mazhab, dan Iraq adalah sebahagian daripada peperangan dan ideologi di rantau ini," kata Jalo. Sejak akhir tahun lepas, Perdana Menteri Nouri al-Maliki, seorang Syiah, telah courted pemimpin puak Sunni untuk meraih sokongan mereka. Dengan bantuan mereka, dia akan berusaha untuk meringankan krisis politik yang kebanyakannya telah rosak sepanjang garis pemisah dan etnik. Awal bulan ini, al-Maliki menawarkan untuk membaik pulih bekas pegawai-pegawai tentera dari wilayah Sunni yang telah dipaksa keluar selepas pencerobohan Amerika Syarikat 2003 kerana hubungan yang disyaki kepada rejim Saddam Hussein.

Tetapi halangan politik tidak menunjukkan tanda-tanda pecah, dan banyak pemimpin Iraq telah meninggalkan Baghdad pada bulan suci Ramadan, yang bermula lewat minggu lepas. Antony J. blinKen, keselamatan negara penasihat kepada Naib Presiden Joe Biden, meramalkan minggu lalu bahawa al-Qaeda akan gagal untuk memikat Iraq kembali ke arah peperangan. Beliau berkata tahap keganasan di Iraq hari ini adalah lebih kurang apa yang ia adalah sebelum pencerobohan.

"Iraq kekal, berbanding dengan daerah-daerah lain, ganas, dan rakyat Iraq menderita," kata blinKen dalam taklimat 18 Julai di Kedutaan Amerika Syarikat di Baghdad. "Tetapi sekali lagi, saya rasa ia amat penting untuk meletakkan semua ini dalam konteks. Berbanding di mana Iraq adalah beberapa tahun yang lalu, sudah ada perubahan yang dramatik untuk menjadi lebih baik."

Kenyataan seperti itu menggeramkan beberapa pemimpin Iraq yang mengatakan Washington membantu gloss al-Maliki lebih Keadaan yang mencemaskan Iraq. "Perkara yang tidak baik. Perkara yang tidak baik," Ayad Allawi, pemimpin Syiah pakatan Iraqiya politik sekular tetapi Sunni-didominasi berkata dalam 1 temu bual pada 16 jul dengan The Associated Press. "Masyarakat berpecah dan kami tidak mempunyai demokrasi yang sebenar - kita mempunyai ejekan."

Pengeboman dan pemacu-oleh tembakan hampir tak pernah kejadian di Iraq ketika rejim Saddam, yang disimpan memahami ketat kepada masyarakat melalui ugutan dan ancaman. Tetapi beratus-ratus ribu orang Kurd dan Syiah sama ada dilaksanakan atau "hilang" semasa pemerintahan 24 tahun Saddam, yang disasarkan kerana pembangkang politik mereka.

Sunni dan Kurd mengadu mereka telah sama ada dipinggirkan daripada pihak berkuasa sebenar dalam kerajaan Syiah yang dipimpin atau disekat oleh Baghdad daripada membuat tawaran perniagaan yang lumayan serantau. Bulan lepas, anti-Amerika ulama Muqtada al-Sadr menjadi Syiah yang paling berpengaruh untuk menyertai permintaan Sunni-orang Kurd al-Maliki meletakkan jawatan.

Urusan kebelakangan baru-baru ini telah senyap pertengkaran baru-baru ini, dan hanya sedikit kemajuan dijangka akan dibuat pada bulan Ramadan. Walau bagaimanapun, serangan hari ini yang dibuat jelas bahawa rancangan al-Qaeda untuk meneruskan operasinya dalam apa Kementerian Dalam Negeri yang dikenali sebagai "1 pelanggaran terang-terangan" "kesucian bulan Ramadan yang mulia."

Ia adalah punca penyejukkan untuk sambutan di kalangan membimbangkan, yang segera pergi ke laman web militan dan dipanggil gelombang bukti keganasan kempen baru al-Baghdadi.

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at www.twitter.com/larajakesAP

WORLD News ‘Attacks bring Iraq's deadliest 

day in 2 years’

BAGHDAD (AP) - A startling spasm of violence shook more than a dozen Iraqi cities Monday, killing over 100 people in coordinated bombings and shootings and wounding twice as many in the country's deadliest day in more than two years.

The attacks came only days after al-Qaida announced it would attempt a comeback with a new offensive against Iraq's weakened government. With the U.S. military gone and the government mired in infighting, the Iraqi wing of al-Qaida has vowed to retake areas it once controlled and push the nation back toward civil war. Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attacks, nearly all of them struck in the capital and in northern Iraqi cities where al-Qaida can most easily regain a foothold.

"Terrorists are opening another gate of hell for us," said Kamiran Karim, a sweets-seller in the northern city of Kirkuk, which was hit by five exploding cars throughout the morning. He suffered shrapnel wounds when one of the car bombs blew up about 200 meters (yards) from his cart.

So far this summer, militants linked to al-Qaida have claimed responsibility for a steady drumbeat of attacks designed to keep the government off-balance as it works to overcome a power struggle that pits Sunni and Kurdish leaders against the Shiite prime minister. The infighting, which escalated the day after the U.S. military withdrew last December, has all but paralyzed the government and deepened sectarian tensions around the country.

Iraqi and U.S. officials insist al-Qaida is incapable of sowing the kind of widespread violence that would return Iraq to sectarian warfare. And indeed, Shiite militias so far have held back from returning fire. But Monday's attacks prove al-Qaida's continued ability to thwart security, undermine the government and create chaos in a fragile democracy that experts fear is headed toward a failed state.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, accused militants of "spreading panic and fear" and urged political parties to resolve their differences and help restore stability. Many of Monday's attacks were stunning in their scope and boldness. They bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida, happening within a few hours of each other and striking mainly at security forces, government officials and Shiite neighborhoods.

In one brazen assault, three carloads of gunmen pulled up at an Iraqi army base near the northeastern town of Udaim and opened fire, killing 13 soldiers before escaping, two senior police officials said.

In another, a car bomb exploded outside a government office in Sadr City, the poor, sprawling Shiite neighborhood in northeast Baghdad. Sixteen people died. "The only thing I remember was the smoke and fire, which was everywhere," said Mohammed Munim, an employee at the office who woke up in a nearby emergency room with shrapnel in his neck and back.

The deadliest attack, however, took place just north of Baghdad in the town of Taji, where a double bombing killed at least 41 people. The blasts were timed to hit as police rushed to help victims from a series of five explosions minutes earlier.

The death toll of at least 110 was the worst for a single day in Iraq since May 10, 2010, when a string of nationwide attacks killed at least 119 people. The sheer breadth of Monday's bloodshed harkened back to the bloodiest days of Iraq's sectarian fighting in 2007, when it was common for more than 100 people to die in a day.

It appeared to be the start of a new al-Qaida campaign in Iraq dubbed "Breaking the Walls," which was announced late last week by the local insurgency's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In a statement issued Saturday on a militant website, al-Baghdadi warned that his Islamic State of Iraq is returning to strongholds that it was driven from by the American military. The Islamic State of Iraq is the formal name for the al-Qaida linked group.

"The majority of the Sunnis in Iraq support al-Qaida and are waiting for its return," al-Baghdadi said. At its peak, al-Qaida in Iraq brutalized its victims with publicized beheadings, suicide bombings and roadside bombs that targeted the Shiite government, the U.S. military and Iraqi civilians alike. In an attempt to goad Shiite militias to respond, Al-Qaida bombed the revered al-Askari Shiite shrine in Samarra in 2006 - an attack that launched Iraq's descent into more than three years of sectarian fighting.

But the Iraqi wing of al-Qaida was shunned by the worldwide terror network's central leadership, which chided it for killing civilians. The insurgency made a series of other missteps - imposing overly strict Islamic discipline and alienating tribal leaders - that undercut its support in Iraq's Sunni communities and helped lead to the widespread defection of fighters to groups allied with the U.S.

As a result, the flow of funding, arms and fighters slowed to a trickle, and al-Qaida in Iraq has struggled to command much power. Baghdad political analyst Hadi Jalo said the insurgency now feels emboldened by the success of the Sunni-dominated uprising in neighboring Syria against Damascus' Alawite rulers. The Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

"It is leading a sectarian war, and Iraq is part of its war and ideology in this region," Jalo said. Since late last year, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has courted Sunni tribal leaders to gain their support. With their help, he's sought to ease the political crisis that has largely broken down along sectarian and ethnic lines. Earlier this month, al-Maliki offered to reinstate former army officers from Sunni provinces who were forced out after the 2003 U.S. invasion because of suspected ties to Saddam Hussein's regime.

But the political stonewalling shows no sign of breaking, and many of Iraq's leaders have left Baghdad during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which began late last week. Antony J. Blinken, national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, predicted last week that al-Qaida will fail to lure Iraq back toward war. He said the level of violence in Iraq today is roughly what it was before the invasion.

"Iraq remains, relative to other counties, violent, and the Iraqi people suffer from it," Blinken said in the July 18 briefing at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. "But again, I think it's very important to put all of this in context. Compared to where Iraq was a few years ago, there's been a dramatic change for the better."

Statements like that infuriate some Iraqi leaders who say Washington is helping al-Maliki gloss over Iraq's dire situation. "Things are not good. Things are bad," Ayad Allawi, the Shiite leader of the secular but Sunni-dominated Iraqiya political coalition said in a July 16 interview with The Associated Press. "The society is split and we don't have a real democracy - we have a mockery."

Bombings and drive-by shootings were virtually unheard-of in Iraq during Saddam's regime, which kept a tight grasp on society through intimidation and threats. But hundreds of thousands of Kurds and Shiites were either executed or "disappeared" during Saddam's 24-year rule, targeted because of their political opposition.

Sunnis and Kurds complain they have been either sidelined from real authority in the Shiite-led government or blocked by Baghdad from making lucrative regional business deals. Last month, the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr became the most influential Shiite to join the Sunni-Kurd demand for al-Maliki to resign.

Recent backroom dealing has quieted the recent bickering, and little progress is expected to be made during Ramadan. However, Monday's attacks made clear that al-Qaida's plans to continue its operations in what the Interior Ministry called "a flagrant violation" of "the sanctity of the holy month of Ramadan."

It was a chilling cause for celebration among jihadists, who quickly went to militant websites and called the wave of violence proof of al-Baghdadi's new campaign.

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at www.twitter.com/larajakesAP