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| Iraq |
| Suicide bombers storm Iraq ministry building, 24 killed |
| 2014-01-31 |
| [REUTERS] Six jacket wallahs burst into an Iraqi ministry building, took hostages and killed at least 24 people including themselves on Thursday before security forces regained control, security officials said. The brazen attack on the building belonging to the Ministry of Transportation in northeast Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... coincided with a month-long standoff between the Iraqi army and anti-government fighters in the western province of Anbar. No group grabbed credit but suicide kabooms in Iraq are the trademark of al-Qaeda linked groups. State buildings are a target for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) and its allies that have been regaining momentum in a campaign to destabilize the Shi'ite Moslem-led government. A senior security source said the six gunnies took a number of hostages, most of them members of the Facilities Protection Service, and killed nine of them inside the building, which was used to receive visiting delegations. Four bombers detonated their explosives vests during the assault, a fifth was rubbed out by security forces and the last died shortly after being shot, according to security officials. "The level of security measures in the building was less than normal because it is a service building and not a sensitive site," another security bigshot told Rooters on condition of anonymity. A further 50 people were maimed in the attack. An Interior Ministry statement gave out a lower corpse count - eight, including the six suicide bombers. Security officials blamed ISIL for the attack and said they expected more in Storied Baghdad in the coming days to distract the security forces and reduce pressure on their gunnies in the Anbar cities of Falluja and eastern Ramadi. The Sunni Moslem ISIL, backed by tribal fighters who resent the government, seized control of the two cities in the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar, bordering Syria, on January 1. Iraqi government forces have since surrounded Falluja. |
| Posted by:Fred |