BAGHDAD, Iraq – 2016 has proven that ISIS has lost its conventional military capabilities. But what it also has shown is that the group is still capable of making headlines, like it did today with attacks in Baghdad despite losing ground just about every day in Iraq and Syria. The extremist group cannot afford a tarnished image so a difficult year may be ahead for Iraqis.
As people were cautiously welcoming the new year, many staying in their homes for fear of terrorist attacks, two ISIS suicide bombs struck central Baghdad just minutes apart, killing at least 28 people and injuring more than 50 on Saturday, official sources said.
Rudaw’s correspondent Bahman Hassan who visited the site of the attacks reported that according to unofficial figures, the death toll is about double that number.
Hassan also reported a smaller car bomb attack with ten casualties in Baghdad’s al-Jadida, east of the city center.
The second bombing was about twenty minutes away from the Karada district, the site of the deadliest single attack ever committed by ISIS anywhere in the world, killing at least 300 people in early July.
The Karada bombing, also the deadliest single attack since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, forced the resignation of Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban – leaving the position vacant to date.
The attack came days after ISIS lost the strategic town of Fallujah, 65 kilometres west of the capital.
To make matters worse, the Iraqi parliament sacked its Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi in late August, leaving a second key cabinet post vacant even though Iraq was about to launch their largest military operation against ISIS – the liberation of Mosul.
Deputy parliament speaker Aram Sheikh Mohammed said that Saturday’s bombings demonstrate that Baghdad needs to fill these two security positions as soon as possible, Iraqi media reported. His comments come despite the fact that he knows all too well filling these posts would require agreement among different parties in the parliament, something that rarely happens in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, advancing Iraqi forces claim they have liberated at least 40 districts in eastern Mosul, a city that fell to ISIS in 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said that they are going to liberate the whole city in three months’ time, after his forces missed the end of the current year deadline.
The Iraqi people want Abadi’s government to translate battlefield achievements into increased security in cities like Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. Abadi has made some success in this regard, such as in Fallujah where people are returning home, but much more needs to be done.
Perhaps no other Iraqi politician remembers the Karada bombing more clearly than Abadi himself. Following his visit to the site, angry people who were mourning the loss of their loved ones threw stones and water bottles at his convoy while calling him a thief, in reference to allegations of widespread corruption in his government, forcing him to leave the area.
The Mosul offensive may have given Abadi enough battle victories to capitalize on, but the attack in central Baghdad is a reminder that he may lose it all should Baghdad continue to face bombings almost every day.
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