Ramadi Bombings Raise Fear of Renewed Insurgency in Anbar Province

Pride of US Anti-Insurgency Effort Reels After Latest Attack

At least 31 people were killed today, and over 100 were wounded in a pair of bombings in the Iraqi city of Ramadi. Over a dozen police were killed in the attack, and the provincial governor was seriously wounded in what officials are describing as a sophisticated coordinated strike.

Such attacks were once par for the course for the restive Anbar Province, but the region has quieted down considerably in the past two years, leading the US to trumpet it as “an example for all of Iraq.”

Today’s killings have raised fears that the province is about to see a return to its violence-plagued past, much as Baghdad and Nineveh have.

The nature of the attack, involving a seemingly-routine checkpoint strike followed by an attack targeting the police at the aftermath (and nearly picking off the provincial governor) was in keeping with several other bombings in other regions, suggesting this was no isolated incident but rather the latest attack by the insurgent forces still operating across Iraq. That Anbar, once seemingly out of reach, was hit again may point to a growing boldness among the group.

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.