Gunmen to wage large attacks after U.S. withdrawal, says Iraq’s top cop

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A top Iraqi security official predicted that insurgent groups will attempt more attacks similar to those that killed at least 66 people this week after U.S. combat soldiers leave Baghdad and other cities by the end of next month. Interior Minister Jawad al-Bulani also said in an interview with The Associated Press that some bombings this year were apparently carried out by terror cells that include foreign fighters from North Africa. U.S. combat forces are due out of Baghdad, Mosul and other cities by June 30 under a U.S.-Iraqi agreement, handing over security responsibility to Iraqi soldiers and police. But a spate of attacks since April has raised concern whether Iraqi forces are capable of safeguarding the security improvements achieved over the last two years. “I think that there are terrorist groups that will try to carry out some terrorist and criminal activities in the coming period during and after the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the cities,” al-Bulani said. “This is expected, but there are precautionary measures and plans to foil these terrorist activities,” said al-Bulani, whose ministry includes Iraqi paramilitary police. But public unease has been rising following the spate of attacks, including Thursday’s blasts in Baghdad and Kirkuk that killed 22 Iraqis and three American soldiers. Another 41 people died the day before in a car bombing in a Shiite neighborhood of northwest Baghdad. Most of the bombings since April were against Shiite targets, suggesting they were aimed at rekindling Sunni-Shiite fighting that plunged the country to the brink of all-out civil war before the U.S. troop surge of 2007. Nevertheless, al-Bulani said the U.S. pullout would not be postponed. Ahead of the deadline, U.S. troops are packing their gear, with some units expected to move to bases outside of the capital by the end of this month. “Despite the existing security challenges and threats, I think that our security forces should be given the confidence and the chance to prove their capability,” al-Bulani said. Al-Bulani said he believed Iraqi forces were ready for the challenge but acknowledged that “the real test for our security forces” will come after June pullout. As the deadline approaches, al-Bulani, whose ministry controls most of the Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, said authorities were trying to identify and round up underground cells operated by al-Qaeda and other groups. He said Iraqi authorities had already arrested an undisclosed number of insurgent cells operating in Baghdad, including Tunisians and Moroccans “and other nationalities that have entered Iraq in order to carry out terrorist attacks.” He gave no figures and did not say when the foreigners had been apprehended. Last Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in Washington that foreign fighters were still coming into Iraq across the Syrian border. He also said U.S. troops were still finding Iranian-made weapons in Iraq. Iran and Syria both deny links to Iraqi extremists. Al-Bulani did not repeat the U.S. allegations against Iran and Syria but said neighboring countries should understand that a united, stable Iraq was in their interests and “a threat to no one.” “Security in Iraq cannot be achieved by military solutions,” he said. “Overcoming security problems in Iraq must take into consideration economic, social and political issues.”   AmR (I)/SR 1