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Al-Qaida in Iraq claims responsibility of dozens attacks

13 August 2012 21:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The al-Qaida’s affiliate in Iraq on Monday claimed responsibility of 28 attacks between mid-June and the end of July including a major attack on the building of anti-terrorism directorate in Baghdad, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The self-styled Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an al-Qaida front in the country, confirmed in a statement posted on an Islamic website that it killed 70 people in the July 31 attack on the security branch, but Iraqi security sources put the total death toll at 12.

The all 28 attacks were part of the "breaking the walls" plan, which was announced earlier by al-Qaida’s top leader in Iraq Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said the statement.

The statement, which could not be verified immediately, also claimed the rest 27 attacks, including 19 assassinations by silenced weapons against security forces members and officials, between June 17 and July 20.

On July 31, suicide bombers broke into the building of the directorate of anti-terrorism in Baghdad after they carried out two simultaneous car bombings, one of them was by a suicide bomber.

The attackers controlled parts of the building and were besieged by Iraqi security forces that fought them for five hours.

At least 12 people were killed and 27 others wounded by the explosions of the two car bombs, according to an Interior Ministry source, while the anti-terrorism directorate later in the day announced the killing of eight militants.