Baghdad, December 14: Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani says that 13 people arrested over connection to deadly bombings in Baghdad last August are to face justice and be put to death.
“We have completed 80 percent of the investigation over the bombings against the ministries of finance and foreign affairs,” Bolani told lawmakers during a grilling session in parliament on Sunday in the aftermath of the multiple coordinated bombings on December 8, which killed 127 people and injured over 450 others.
“The court was convinced by the evidence the Ministry of the Interior brought, and the 13 terrorists implicated will be executed,” Bolani stated.
More than 100 civilians lost their lives on August 19 when a wave of explosions ripped through Baghdad’s civilian and diplomatic areas close to government buildings including the finance and foreign ministries.
The Iraqi interior minister added, “We are continuing to work on the attacks against the Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad Governorate offices.”
On October 25, twin suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad claimed 153 civilian lives and left more than 500 others injured. The attack struck the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad Provincial Governorate.
An al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for the blasts. The militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq said in a statement posted on the internet that its “martyrs… targeted the dens of infidelity.”
The carnage was the deadliest in two years and raised more concerns about the Iraqi government’s ability to protect itself as it prepares for the January parliamentary elections and the US military withdrawal.
Iraqi authorities blame the attack against the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad Provincial Governorate and the bombings on August 19 that devastated the finance and foreign ministries on al-Qaeda operatives and supporters of Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath party.
——Agencies