Islamic State militants fleeing their stronghold of Fallujah have struck Baghdad. In the deadliest attack on the capital this year, 120 people died in bombings on a shopping district in the central part of the city which the militants said targeted the Shias. The bombings happened when families were out on the streets after the breaking of fast late on Saturday evening. The carnage was shocking as it happened in the last days of Ramadan, when the faithful were preparing for Eid Al Fitr. For Iraqis, it will be an Eid of utter distress and mourning.
Suicide bombings are not new to Baghdad, but massacres of this scale are rare and shake the confidence of people in the system. Reports say Baghdad has been struck more than 1,000 times, with the majority of attacks targeting crowded places like markets, shopping strips, religious gatherings and shrines.
The attacks once again expose the frailty of the security system in the country and to some extent the inability of the government to guarantee safety in a crowded city where it is easy for militants to merge with the local population. Security doesn’t come cheap. It involves huge investments in security equipment, manpower and in advanced training. For a country immersed in corruption and reeling under political and economic crises, these are huge challenges and first would require putting the house in order. But that’s a challenge Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi must take up, which can be done only by taking all the sectarian groups into confidence. He had assured the country that he would restore security to towns and cities and fight corruption. Abadi will have to start a process of political reconciliation with various sectarian groups and beef up security in all over the city.
The Islamic State is likely to spread its terror in the coming weeks as they come under intense pressure in their strongholds. The IS has lost more than half of the territory they were holding and is likely to be displaced from the remaining areas as the government forces are set to move into Mosul.
The fact that the bombings follow a terrorist attack in Dhaka in which several foreigners were killed, claimed by the Islamic State but denied by the Bangladeshi government, shows that the world has a tough task ahead in fighting terrorism. Home-grown and international terrorism have created a deadly mix which governments are struggling to root out. And these bombings are leading to retaliatory attacks against Muslims. For example, attacks against Muslims have gone up in the US after the Orlando shooting.
Islamic State militants fleeing their stronghold of Fallujah have struck Baghdad. In the deadliest attack on the capital this year, 120 people died in bombings on a shopping district in the central part of the city which the militants said targeted the Shias. The bombings happened when families were out on the streets after the breaking of fast late on Saturday evening. The carnage was shocking as it happened in the last days of Ramadan, when the faithful were preparing for Eid Al Fitr. For Iraqis, it will be an Eid of utter distress and mourning.
Suicide bombings are not new to Baghdad, but massacres of this scale are rare and shake the confidence of people in the system. Reports say Baghdad has been struck more than 1,000 times, with the majority of attacks targeting crowded places like markets, shopping strips, religious gatherings and shrines.
The attacks once again expose the frailty of the security system in the country and to some extent the inability of the government to guarantee safety in a crowded city where it is easy for militants to merge with the local population. Security doesn’t come cheap. It involves huge investments in security equipment, manpower and in advanced training. For a country immersed in corruption and reeling under political and economic crises, these are huge challenges and first would require putting the house in order. But that’s a challenge Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi must take up, which can be done only by taking all the sectarian groups into confidence. He had assured the country that he would restore security to towns and cities and fight corruption. Abadi will have to start a process of political reconciliation with various sectarian groups and beef up security in all over the city.
The Islamic State is likely to spread its terror in the coming weeks as they come under intense pressure in their strongholds. The IS has lost more than half of the territory they were holding and is likely to be displaced from the remaining areas as the government forces are set to move into Mosul.
The fact that the bombings follow a terrorist attack in Dhaka in which several foreigners were killed, claimed by the Islamic State but denied by the Bangladeshi government, shows that the world has a tough task ahead in fighting terrorism. Home-grown and international terrorism have created a deadly mix which governments are struggling to root out. And these bombings are leading to retaliatory attacks against Muslims. For example, attacks against Muslims have gone up in the US after the Orlando shooting.
