AT LEAST 45 Iraqi security force members may have been involved in co-ordinated attacks that killed 127 in Baghdad on December 8th, prime minister Nuri al-Maliki has revealed.
He said that 24 of the culprits belonged to one of the security services, 13 to another and eight or nine to a third. But he did not specify which organisations.
He also did not name the authors of the operation, allegedly claimed by al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Three massive attacks near government targets in the capital have undermined popular confidence in Iraq’s security services and in Mr al-Maliki, who seeks to return to office after the March 7th parliamentary election.
Since the bombings at the foreign and finance ministries killed 102 on August 19th, many Iraqis have suspected that police officers or troops have colluded with bombers or carried out the attacks.
The second attack took place at the justice ministry and provincial administration offices on October 25th and killed 155. Mr al-Maliki has argued that the operations are the work of al-Qaeda and Baathist insurgents operating from Syria. Such allegations have created a rift between Iraq and Syria, which hosts 1.5 million Iraqis who have fled postwar violence in their homeland.
However, some Iraqi analysts blame militiamen inducted into the police and army who remain loyal to the Shia Badr and Sadr militias. The Badrists belong to the armed wing of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council while the Sadrists follow cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. These two groups have formed an electoral alliance in a bid to wrest control from Mr al-Maliki and his Dawa party which is aligned with Sunni and tribal groups.
Other commentators accuse Sunnis who left the insurgency to join tribal and urban “Awakening Councils” in the fight against al-Qaeda, but have taken up arms against Mr al-Maliki who reneged on a pledge to pay their salaries until they are given jobs in the army and civil service.
The government has offered $85,500 as a reward to anyone who provides information which will alert the authorities to bomb plots. The aim of this offer is to encourage citizens to co-operate with the security forces and make up for their deficiencies. But such a scheme could produce false allegations, complicating the task of tracking down elusive bombers.
