Coordinated Attacks in 13 Cities Kill 92 Iraqis

Security Forces Targeted Across Iraq in Massive Attack

by Jason Ditz, August 25, 2010

In a massive wave of coordinated attacks across the entire nation, some 13 Iraqi cities saw insurgents striking large numbers of security forces from Basra to Mosul, with major strikes in Baghdad and Kut.

When all was said and done, 92 Iraqis were killed and 379 others were wounded. Large numbers of security forces are among the dead, as are a number of civilian bystanders who were at or near the sites of the attacks.

The attacks and one last week against Army recruits in Baghdad that left 61 people dead are raising serious doubts about the ability of Iraq’s security forces to defend even their own targets from attack, let alone the rest of the nation.

This is of particular issue as the Obama Administration touts the “end of combat operations” in Iraq, though some 50,000 US troops remain in the nation. Administration officials have been claiming that violence is “down” in Iraq and that the war has been won, but as the military concedes the possibility of “returning” to combat operations the rising death toll seems to be pointing to the war getting worse, not better.

Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz