80 Killed and Many More Wounded in Iraq Suicide Bombings

Eighty people died in three separate suicide bombings in Iraq yesterday, and officials have estimated that at least 120 more were injured. In the ultimate slap in the face at attempts at peace in the region, one of the suicide bombers, a female, held the hand of a young child as she detonated her bomb among a large group of women and children who were in the process of receiving emergency food supplies. While Iraq has grown consistently more peaceful in the past several months, the recent spate of bombings has Iraqis worried. Baathist and other jihadi militants are suspected of carrying out the attacks by splintering into ever-smaller groups to carry out bombings such as those that occurred yesterday.

Sheik Jalal al-Din Saghir, a member of Parliament from the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, warned Iraqis and government officials of letting their guard down, saying, "The government was treating the situation like they’d won a victory. They relaxed. We can’t ignore that there were security successes, but that doesn’t mean the story is finished." There was some good news being reported yesterday as well, as the Iraqi government announced the capture of Abu Omar al-Bahdadi, a leader of the Sunni insurgency near Baghdad.

Defending security gains in his country, Hussein al-Shami, an advisor to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, noted that, "The security situation is still good, but there are some sleeper cells that are targeting the softer areas. They just want to send a message to the government and the world that they are still here."