Nearly 100 Killed in Iraq Anniversary Blasts

Day of Bombings Points to Growing Militant Capabilities

Adding to an already grim 10 year anniversary of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, a flurry of suicide bombings and car bomb attacks tore through the capital city of Baghdad as well as the northern city of Mosul.

Over a dozen distinct attacks were reported nationwide, targeting Shi’ite neighborhoods as well as security forces, and at least 65 people were killed in the major attacks, with over 200 others wounded. The total death toll, including smaller attacks, was nearly 100.

The huge number of attacks, as well a the major death toll, reflects the growing capabilities of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and other militant factions, never really defeated in the first place, but which seem to be getting a shot in the arm with the Syrian civil war next door, and the growing control of the Syria-Iraq border by al-Qaeda styled Islamist rebels.

With Gulf nations throwing arms at the assorted Syrian rebels (and Britain and France hoping to join in on the fun) the weaponry is bound to trickle into Iraq as well, with AQI hoping to parlay this latest influx into another sectarian civil war.

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.