SOLVEDListenBaghdad, Iraq · 2000s
Abduction of Russian Diplomats in Iraq
In June 2006, insurgents ambushed a Russian Embassy car in Baghdad, killing one guard and abducting four staff who were later killed by their captors.
What happened
On 22 December 2011, a series of coordinated attacks occurred across Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 69 people and wounding at least 169 others, according to the Iraqi health ministry. Iraqi officials reported that at least 14 bombs went off in the capital, targeting a total of 11 neighborhoods. Most of the attacks occurred in Shiite areas, with the exception of an IED attack in the Sunni enclave of Adhamiyah.
The deadliest single attack, and the only confirmed suicide bombing, took place in the Karrada district, where a bomber drove an ambulance into a government anti-corruption office, killing 25 people and injuring 62. Local policemen reportedly allowed the ambulance through because of the vehicle itself and the driver's assurances that he was heading to a nearby hospital.
The bombings were the first major assault on Baghdad following the start of a sectarian political crisis, which began just days earlier when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued an arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi. Journalists on the ground reported that security forces blocked access to bombing sites and that Baghdad's usually crowded streets were largely deserted in the aftermath.
Beyond the capital, other attacks were reported the same day across Iraq. Gunmen killed a family of five, including two members of a Sunni Awakening council, along with a bodyguard, in Baqubah. Shootings in Mosul left two dead and four injured. Additional attacks injured five people in Musayyib and Jurf Al-Sakhar, south of Baghdad, and a body was found in Kirkuk. Later that evening, at least four more explosions struck Baghdad, including in the Al-Shurtta and Al-Jihad districts in the southwest of the city, raising the official death toll to 72.
No group immediately claimed responsibility. Early reports speculated about involvement by the Islamic State of Iraq, given that most attacks targeted Shiite neighborhoods. Vice President al-Hashimi, in hiding in Iraqi Kurdistan at the time, accused elements within the Iraqi government of orchestrating the attacks. On 26 December 2011, the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility in a statement released on jihadist internet forums and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The group described the attacks as part of a series of operations targeting security headquarters, military patrols, and gatherings linked to Shia figure Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, framing them as retaliation tied to the treatment of Sunni prisoners and opposition to what it called Iranian influence over Maliki's government.
Ayad Allawi, leader of the Iraqiya party, blamed the government for the violence and warned that it would continue as long as people were excluded from the political process. U.S. military officials separately expressed concern about a resurgence of al-Qaeda-linked activity following the American troop withdrawal.
