Baghdad, May 11: Iraqi security forces faced charges of negligence on Tuesday after insurgents killed 110 people in a devastating wave of attacks in five cities the previous day, Iraq’s bloodiest this year.
Around five dozen bombings and shootings shattered a lull in violence as Iraq moved closer to forming a government more than two months after a general election.
The government pinned the blame on Al-Qaeda while Iraq’s deputy interior minister announced that an inquiry was under way and appeared to concede that the nation’s security apparatus had been comprehensively undermined.
“There were security violations because of weak inspection measures,” at checkpoints, Hussein Ali Kamal told the Bayan newspaper, which is close to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
“Security leaders will be held accountable for these incidents and will find out who was negligent.”
In total 110 people were killed and more than 500 wounded, the highest death toll since December 8.
In Baghdad, defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said Al-Qaeda was to blame for Monday’s attacks, in what amounted to retaliation from the network.
“These bombings carry the fingerprints of Al-Qaeda,” he said.
Askari was referring to an Iraqi-US military operation last month that killed Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, political leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Abu Ayub al-Masri, an Egyptian militant and the group’s self-styled “minister of war.”
“It is logical that Al-Qaeda commits more than one terrorist attack in different cities … to send a message that says: ‘We can commit attacks in different areas at the same time.'”
Electoral officials said on Sunday that results from the March 7 vote were nearly finalised, with totals from all but one province sent for ratification. A recount in the lone exception, Baghdad, is more than half complete.
Monday’s violence came after figures showed the number of Iraqis killed in violence in April fell slightly month on month but was almost unchanged from 12 months ago — 328 people died as a result of attacks last month.
—Agencies