Rise in violence in Iraq points to insurgent push

BAGHDAD (AP) — It’s been a season of jarring flashbacks in Iraq: a spate of major suicide bombings, including more than 145 dead over two days of bloodshed capped by a blast Friday outside a Shiite shrine.

The spike in attacks since March suggest suspected Sunni insurgents are still capable of striking back hard and recruiting fighters even as the Pentagon increasingly shifts its attention to Afghanistan.

The violence also brings wider questions about the ability of Iraqi security forces to control a resilient insurgency led by al-Qaida in Iraq and how that could influence the U.S. military withdrawal timetable — the next step calls for American forces to leave bases inside cities by the end of June.

In Washington, the top U.S. military commander for the region, Gen. David Petraeus, told a House panel that attacks in Iraq will persist for some time. He said some of the recent suicide bombers may be linked to a network of militants from Tunisia brought in to replace dwindling ranks of Iraqis willing to carry out such attacks.

Petraeus cited some successes in Iraq but cautioned that progress continues to be fragile and reversible.

Overall violence around Iraq is significantly below the levels in past years. Yet the tally since March appears to reflect a new push by Sunni insurgents.

There’ve been more than a dozen significant bombings or suicide attacks in the past two months, including a series of five blasts in four hours in Baghdad on April 6 that left 37 people dead.

On Friday, at least 66 worshippers were killed in twin suicide bombings at Baghdad’s most important Shiite shrine. A day earlier — the bloodiest single day in Iraq in more than a year — at least 88 people died in suicide blasts in central Baghdad and at a restaurant filled with Iranian pilgrims north of the capital.

The aftermath of the blasts Friday were scenes that many in Baghdad had hoped would never return on this scale: deep pools of blood, dozens of limp bodies scattered in the dirt and crumpled against walls, survivors wailing and many of the estimated 125 wounded crying for help.

“Where are the security precautions that the security officials are talking about?” asked Laith Ali, 35, who owns a shop near the shrine in northern Baghdad.

April is already the deadliest month in Iraq this year with at least 349 Iraqis killed in war-related violence. Suicide bombings — about half the deaths this month — have not taken such a toll on the Iraqi population since February 2008.

Casualties have been increasing since January, which had been the least deadly month for Iraqis since The Associated Press began keeping track in May 2005.

However, war-related deaths remain well below levels of a year ago. A total of 1,276 people died violently in March 2008, compared with 335 killed last month.