MP says reason for Baghdad blasts failure to liquidate al-Qaeda

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Security & Defense Committee, Hakim al-Zamily, has said on Sunday that the explosions that took place in Baghdad today, took place because of the failure to liquidate al-Qaeda organization, along with the existence of elements of the former Baath regime and those cooperating with the U.S. forces in Iraq .   “The explosions that took place today (Sunday) in a number of Baghdad areas, have taken place in timing with the proposed withdrawal of the American Forces, as there are still some people who want to talk about necessity for the extension of the occupation in Iraq, whilst the failure to liquidate al-Qaeda organization, as well as the presence of remnants of the former regime and those cooperating with the occupation forces, were behind the deterioration of the security situation,” Zamily told IraqiNews.com news agency.   Zamily also shouldered the American forces with responsibility for the security deterioration in the country, saying that “the occupation forces are responsible for those explosions, because they did not achieve their promise regarding the armament and the supplying of the Iraqi military authorities, and thus are looking for justifications to extend their presence in Iraq, along with calls by some politicians to extend the presence of the occupation forces in the country.”   Noteworthy is that Sunday had witnessed a series of explosions, caused by explosive charges and booby-trapped car blasts in different parts of Baghdad , that caused the killing of 13 people and wounding 49 others.   IraqiNews.com news agency tried to contact the Baghdad Operations Command, to know the reason for the said security violations, but in vain, whilst its Spokesman, Maj. General Qassim Ata, spoke about its intension to open Baghdad’s closed streets and lift the concrete barriers that blocked most of those streets, giving an impression about the improvement of the security situation and ability of the Iraqi forces to achieve security after the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of the current year.   SKH (FT)   711