As predicted here many times, as soon as the Surge subsided, violence would resume. “Baghdad blasts kill 101,” by Ammar Karim for AFP, December 8 (thanks to James):
Five powerful car bombs rocked Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 101 people, many of them students, and wounding 182 in the third co-ordinated massacre to devastate the capital since August….
Two car bombs exploded near offices of the labour and interior ministries and a suicide attacker in a car struck a police patrol in Dora, in southern Baghdad, causing 15 of the deaths, an interior ministry official said.
The first explosion in the centre of Baghdad was heard at 10:25 am (0725 GMT), another came within seconds and a third one minute later.
Although no group has yet admitted responsibility, the timing of the blasts bears all the hallmarks of an Al-Qaeda operation….
The interior ministry official said 12 of those killed by the suicide attacker in Dora were students at a nearby technical college. The other three fatalities were policemen….
Violence across Iraq dropped dramatically last month, with the fewest deaths in attacks recorded since the US-led invasion of 2003. Official figures showed a total of 122 people were killed in November….
The threat of political violence linked to the poll has been a major concern after bloody attacks in Baghdad in August and October that killed more than 250 people….
“We believe that there will be an attempt to conduct more attacks between now and the election,” General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, said in November….
No kidding, really?