Al-Qaeda Threat Rattles Iraq’s Volatile Anbar Province
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Al-Qaeda in Iraq has threatened to take over all Sunni towns on the Syrian border, including the volatile Anbar province where an official said the group is already stronger than security forces.
The threat came a day after jihadist fighters allied with al-Qaeda staged a heavy attack on government facilities in the town of Fallujah in Anbar and occupied it for several hours. They were flushed out by Iraqi armed forces.
Anbar police said on Monday that three suicide bombers and four other attackers were killed in the terrorist assault, mainly on a police compound and the department of electricity.
Iraq has witnessed some of its deadliest attacks since the withdrawal of US forces nearly two years ago. The latest such strike targeted a cafe in Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite Amil district on Monday, which killed 37 people and injured more than 40.
The al-Qaeda threat to take over border towns has worried Iraqi authorities, who from 2003 to 2008 lost control of the Sunni provinces of Anbar, Nineveh and Salaheddin to Islamist groups.
"The situation in Anbar is deteriorating," Salih Issawi, deputy head of Anbar’s provincial council, told the London-based Al Hayat newspaper. "In this province al-Qaeda is more powerful than the security forces," he was quoted as saying.
Issawi warned that the weakening security forces might completely collapse and the province be overrun by insurgent groups.
In 2008, under the auspices of the occupying US forces, the Iraqi government reconciled with Sunni tribes and provided them with arms and salaries. The de facto militia stood up to al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups and regained control of Iraq’s so-called “Sunni triangle.”
Over the past year, however, Sunni tribes have complained that Iraq's Shiite-led government has neglected their areas in providing much-needed public services. They complain that the security forces are haunting them for alleged membership in insurgent groups.
Issawi said that the Islamist groups have long-term plans to take over all government institutions in Anbar and that the daily clashes with police are the early signs of that intention.
The little trust that Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had built with the country's Sunni tribes was lost after his forces attacked Sunni protesters in Hawija, Mosul and Ramadi last year, killing and throwing many in jail.