Al-Qaeda in Iraq Targets Baghdad's Green Zone
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has increased its violent attacks to exploit the political and sectarian turmoil gripping the nation, focusing on the Green Zone in Baghdad, writes Mushreq Abbas.
It is no coincidence that al-Qaeda has chosen to aim for targets near the boundary walls of the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad. The Ministry of Justice, which was stormed by militants last week, is less than 500 meters [about 550 yards] from the government’s headquarters and 1,000 meters [.62 miles] from the US Embassy. The bombing that took place in the Karadat Maryam neighborhood a few days later on March 19, 2013 was no more than 100 meters from the government boundary wall.
Moreover, it is no coincidence that al-Qaeda has intensified its attacks in the past few days. It moved from carrying out a series of major attacks almost every month — which it has devoted itself to doing over the past four years — to carrying out five major attacks in less than 60 days.
The attacks — which have resulted in a total of around 300 dead and wounded in 72 hours, and 2,800 casualties from terrorist attacks and political violence, including more than 1,000 deaths so far in 2013 — reveal different messages.
Hours after carrying out the attacks, al-Qaeda not only issued statements claiming responsibility for the operations, but also meticulously detailed the way in which it carried them out. It went so far as to accurately describe the movements of its members at the moment of the ministry storming. Militants ascended the different floors of the building — which is the “symbol of justice” in Iraq — until they reached the floor that contained sensitive files related to Jihadists, according to the statement, in order to blow it up.
