Asa’ib: Saudi-UAE Fingerprints Evident in Baghdad Blasts

Date: 23 January 2021 - 21:32

News ID: ۸۶۸۱۰

BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Iraq’s Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq movement, a subdivision of anti-terror Popular Mobilization Forces (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, says Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are behind the twin bomb blasts in the capital Baghdad which left scores dead and injured.
Saad al-Saadi, a member of Asa’ib’s political bureau, told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV channel that the fingerprints of the Al Saud and Al Nahyan regimes are evident in the attacks.
Asa’ib spokesman Jawad Al-Talibawi took to Twitter to say that Saudi Arabia had once again mobilized its agents to shed the blood of the Iraqi nation after former U.S. president Donald Trump’s criminal role came to an end in Iraq.
He warned that the Iraqi fighters will not remain indifferent in the face of the crimes committed by Riyadh.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi announced the firing of five senior security officials, stressing that he would personally oversee reforms to address "challenges” facing intelligence services in the country.
Following a Friday meeting with Defense Minister Juma Inad, Interior Minister Othman Al-Ghanimi and security chiefs in the aftermath of the twin bombings at a popular market in Baghdad that left 32 dead and 110 wounded, Al-Kadhimi asserted that he would personally oversee the security "challenges” in the country.
The Baghdad bombings were the deadliest in nearly three years. The first attacker drew a crowd at the bustling market in Tayaran Square by claiming to feel sick, and then detonated his explosives belt. As more people then flocked to the scene to help the victims, a second bomber set off his explosives.
The U.S.-sponsored Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Officials described it as a possible sign of the reactivation of the group. It came after recent reports said the U.S. military had transferred Daesh prisoners to the Iraqi-Syrian border.
American forces used helicopters to relocate the Daesh inmates from prisons in Hasakah province in northeast Syria to the Iraqi border, Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV quoted local sources as saying last week.
In a statement, Al-Kadhimi declared that officials who are not capable of protecting citizens must "step down from their position.”
Al-Kadhimi indicated that the bombing was a "breach” that would not be allowed to occur again. "We promised our people security,” he said, "and this breach is an indication that there is a defect that must be urgently addressed.”
Kata’ib Hezbollah group, another PMU faction, said the bombings were meant to implement the U.S. plot in the region and keep its forces in Iraq under security pretexts.
Saudi Arabia wants to bring war into Iraq in line with Trump’s self-proclaimed "deal of the century”, pushing Baghdad towards normalization with the Zionist regime, Kata’ib spokesman Muhammad Mohi stressed.
He further noted that some terrorist groups are being trained at American bases inside Syria as well as the Iraqi borders with Syria and Jordan.
Nouri al-Maliki, former Iraqi prime minister and current head of State of Law coalition, called for a comprehensive investigation into the terrorist attacks to determine whether they was supported from or planned abroad.
In a post on his Twitter account, he called for severe punishment of the military and security officials who will be found guilty of negligence.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned the terrorist attack in Baghdad.
In a press statement, members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government of Iraq, and wished a speedy and full recovery to those injured.