ATTACKS IN IRAQ'S HOLY CITY OF KARBALA
On Sunday 25th of September 2011, four bombs exploded killing fifteen people and the number of casualties has already reached eighty. This number could rise, as wounded keep arriving to the city's hospitals. All the bombs exploded within five minutes in Karbala, a city situated in the southwest of Baghdad.
The first car bomb exploded in front of the Department of the Interior, where identity cards and passports are made, and the second one exploded in the same place once the help arrived. The third bomb exploded next to a building, damaging the facade. Finally, the fourth bomb was detonated about a mile away from Iman Abbas temple.
According to Tariq al-Khaikani, member of Karbala’s provincial council, the bombs were detonated in the most popular parts of the city, in order to kill as much people as possible.
The article mentions one of the biggest attacks in Iraq, when a bus full Shiites was stopped in the Sunni dominated province of Anbar, while travelling to a sanctuary in Damask. This took place on September 12, and 22 of the passengers were killed.
In my opinion, when a country such as Iraq suffers an important attack, is very difficult to know the exact number of victims. This is the reason why it is sated that the number of casualties range between 40 and 90. Karbala is a holy Shiite city where numerous Sunni attacks have been committed against the Shiite pilgrims.
Taking into account that only in 2007 more than 7.500 people were murdered due to the civil war, we can conclude that even though Iraq has suffered in the last month various attacks, the number of attacks has decreased drastically. I cannot but agree with Tariq al-Khaikani and think that one of the factors that influence the numerous attacks in Iraq is the lack of ministers of defense or interior. Both these roles have been overseen by the Prime Minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who promised to name two other persons for these roles. In my opinion what they want to achieve is to destabilize the new and fragile government and maybe the presence of the United States military could help in guarantee the stability of the country, while Iraq is reconstructed.
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