Al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq claims responsibility for twin bombings
BAGHDAD — Al-Qaida’s umbrella group in Iraq claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad that killed at least 155 people, including 24 children trapped in a bus leaving a day care center.
The al-Qaida branch, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a statement posted on the Internet late Monday that its “martyrs ... targeted the dens of infidelity.”
Massive car bombs have been the hallmark of al-Qaida and Sunni insurgents seeking to overthrow the country’s Shiite-dominated government in Iraq.
The attack Sunday in the heart of the Iraqi capital struck the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad Provincial Administration. It was Iraq’s deadliest attacks in two years and it raised more fears about the country’s ability to protect itself as it prepares for January elections and the U.S. military withdrawal.
Among the dead were two dozen children, killed on a bus that was leaving a day care center near the Justice Ministry at the time of the explosions, said an official at the hospital where the bodies were brought. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Attack on Pakistani army officer, mother disrupts violent capital
ISLAMABAD — A gun attack on a senior army officer and his mother caused no casualties but rattled Pakistan’s capital Tuesday, just days after a similar strike killed a military official and signaled Islamist militants are turning more to assassination tactics.
Armed extremists in Pakistan have staged several assaults in recent weeks against security forces and other targets, apparently to retaliate for the army’s offensive in their stronghold of South Waziristan, a tribal region along the Afghan border.
Last Thursday, gunmen fired on an army jeep in another part of Islamabad. A brigadier and a soldier died in the attack. It was believed to be the first ever assassination of an army officer in the capital.
Police said that the officer and his mother were driving to a bank when attacked.
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