The Long War Journal: Suicide bombers target Iraqi ministries, kill 132

Written by Bill Roggio on October 25, 2009 2:19 PM to The Long War Journal

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/10/suicide_bombers_targ.php

A pair of suicide bombers driving trucks packed with explosives detonated outside the Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad provincial administration, killing 132 Iraqis and wounding more than 500, police officials told Voices of Iraq.

The blasts set nearby cars ablaze and blew out windows in nearby buildings, adding to the casualties. The facade of the Ministry of Justice was smashed, and the building flooded after water pipes burst during the explosion.

Blast walls around the government buildings, which could have prevented some of the devastation, had recently been removed by the government.

The attacks are similar to the Aug. 19 bombings in Baghdad earlier this year. On that day, suicide bombers detonated their explosive-laded vehicles outside the Foreign Ministry and near the Finance Ministry and the Baghdad provincial government building, killing more than 100. The government had ordered the blast walls to be removed outside the buildings just weeks before the attacks, citing the improved security situation.

The Iraqi government has said unnamed neighboring countries are responsible for allowing the attacks to occur.

"The neighboring and distant countries should immediately refrain, forever, from harboring, financing and facilitating forces that openly proclaim their hostility to the Iraqi state," President Jalal Talabani said in a statement released by his office.

"It is the same black hands who are covered in the blood of the Iraqi people," Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said in a statement. "They want to cause chaos in the nation, hinder the political process and prevent the parliamentary election."

The Iraqi government has blamed Syria for allowing al Qaeda and Ba'athists to plan, organize, and train terrorists on Syrian soil to conduct strikes in Iraq.

In late August, the Iraqi government aired the confession of Mohammed Hassan al Shemari, a Saudi al Qaeda member who claims to be the leader of the terror group's forces in Diyala province. Sherari said Syrian intelligence, or the Mukhabarat, actively supports al Qaeda in Iraq. Senior al Qaeda leaders Abu Khalaf and now Sheikh Issa al Masri direct al Qaeda's operations in Syria.

The Iraqi government also pointed a finger at two senior Ba'athist operatives for involvement in the Aug. 19 attacks, while a Turkish newspaper claimed that the US has provided Iraq with satellite imagery that shows Ba'athist training camps for Iraqi insurgents. Lebanese intelligence officials claimed Syrian intelligence aided wanted Ba'athists who were behind the deadly Aug. 19 bombings in Baghdad to enter Lebanon.