adminThe statement by the Islamic State of Iraq, posted on a website on Wednesday, said its “Sunni lions” targeted the plan of the “fool government preparing” for the summit.
Attacks on Tuesday struck Shia pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala, set cars on fire near a police headquarters in Kirkuk and targeted security forces and government officials in Baghdad.
In all, the extremist groups struck eight cities in just under six hours, killing 46 people and wounding 200.
“Within a few hours, all the security measures adopted by the Shia government have collapsed and the enemy was taken by surprise,” the statement said. “Several government and security headquarters were attacked.”
The government vowed not to be scared off from hosting the summit, the first to take place in Iraq since 1990 and a chance to prove it is moving toward normalcy after years of war.
The attacks were not entirely unexpected: Government and security officials have warned for weeks that al-Qaeda and Sunni sympathisers would try to thwart next week’s summit by sowing fear about Baghdad’s stability. — AP.
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