The bombings targeted Iraqi government ministries, demonstrating again that the only casus belli needed for violent jihad is “occupation” by an insufficiently pious government — even a Muslim one, in spite of the fact that prime minister Nouri al-Maliki called the U.S. pullback a “great victory” against “foreign occupiers.”
“75 killed, 310 injured in Baghdad attacks,” from CNN, August 19:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Bombings rocked Baghdad killing 75 people and wounding 310 others, making Wednesday one of the deadliest days since the U.S. handed over security of the country to Iraqis.
In total there were six explosions within an hour, Iraq’s Interior Ministry officials said.
In one attack, a truck bomb explosion partly damaged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. Another occurred outside the building of Ministry of Finance.
A roadside bomb exploded on Kifa Street in central Baghdad. Another bomb exploded in the Salhiya neighborhood and two more exploded in eastern Baghdad’s Beirut Square, officials said.
In yet another attack, two mortars were fired into the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area in Baghdad that houses the U.S. Embassy and many government ministries.
The 4-square-mile area served as a refuge for Westerners for six years. The United States relinquished security control to the Iraqis earlier this year.
Iraqi Security Forces arrested two people in western Baghdad believed to be connected to the bombings, an official with the Iraqi army told CNN.
The two suspects were driving in a car rigged with explosives before they were arrested, the official said. The two suspects were believed to be al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders, the official said….