Maliki Blames ‘Foreign Support’ for Baghdad Bombings, Vows More Executions

Interior Ministry Says Explosives Originated Abroad

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pointed for unnamed foreign backers as being behind yesterday’s massive Baghdad bombings, which killed over 120 people and wounded many hundreds of others.

Adding to the speculation, Interior Ministry spokesman Jihad al-Jabiri claimed that four of the car bombings yesterday used C-4 plastic explosives which had originated from abroad, and blamed “Syria, Saudi Arabia or another country” for tacit support for the attacks.

Though Maliki hadn’t singled out any specific nations this time around, after previous attacks he blamed the Syrian government, and diplomatic relations between Iraq and Syria have continued to worsen since August.

Prime Minister Maliki has promised a revamp of security strategies, but the only specific information he gave was a plan to execute more people accused of similar crimes, saying it would provide a deterrent effect. According to Amnesty International, over 900 Iraqis are already being held on death row, many of them on the basis of coerced evidence.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.