Baghdad official :security personnel complicit with Islamic State

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) An official at Baghdad governorate said Tuesday that the recent security breaches in the capital, which resulted in the death of several civilians, were the result of complicity with Islamic State militants by some security personnel.

Fadel al-Shuweili, a member of Baghdad governorate’s security committee, said “financial corruption” and “complicit security elements” pass booby-trapped cars into the capital.

He urged the government to immediately hold those elements accountable.

“The committee had highlighted financial corruption at the entrances of the capital and commercial areas,” adding that the breach is tolerated “ in return for a few dollars,” as he put it. He said security forces ave failed to protect civilian gatherings at all regions despite the security threat that surged as operations against IS began two months earlier.

“(Interior Ministry’s) Baghdad Operations are entirely responsible for what has happened,” Shuweili maintained, urging the government to hold them accountable away from “political compliments”.

Shuweili’s statements come as a deadly bombing killed nearly 35 civilians in the city of al-Sadr, east of Baghdad, an attack blamed on IS militants.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said Monday violence in Iraq left 19000 casualties in 2016, but said the count excludes deaths in Anbar during three months of that year.