Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
xEmbed
xShare
Suicide attackers broke into a gas plant north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least seven people and setting fire to gas tanks, officials said.Video provided by AFP Newslook
A federal police officer stands guard Sunday outside the natural gas plant in Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad. The Islamic State group launched a coordinated assault Sunday on a natural gas plant north of the capital that killed at least a dozen people, according to Iraqi officials.(Photo: AP)
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for Sunday's fiery<span style="color: Red;">*</span>assault at a natural gas plant outside Baghdad that left at least 14 dead, the latest in a series of brutal attacks that left more than 100 Iraqis<span style="color: Red;">*</span>dead in the war-weary<span style="color: Red;">*</span>nation.
Four other bomb attacks in and around the capital on Sunday, all targeting commercial areas, killed at least 15 more people, the Associated Press reported, citing Iraqi officials.
The assault at the gas plant began when three car bombs exploded outside the gate in Taji, less than 15 miles north of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Baghdad, the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>BBC<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said. Suicide bombers and other militants<span style="color: Red;">*</span>then rushed the plant, clashing with security forces and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>blowing up gas tanks.
Security forces<span style="color: Red;">*</span>backed by two military helicopters<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were able to repel the attack, the government said. Three gas storage tanks were set ablaze<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at the plant, which produces gas canisters for cooking. In addition to those killed,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at least 20 other<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people were wounded, according to the AP and BBC. Other news outlets reported<span style="color: Red;">*</span>different numbers of victims, including<span style="color: Red;">*</span>workers and security forces.
Deputy Oil Minister Hamid Younis said firefighters extinguished the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fires<span style="color: Red;">*</span>caused by the explosions, and the extent of the damage to the plant was being assessed, the AP reported.
USA TODAY
ISIL claims responsibility for 3 horrific bombings in Iraq
The other attacks Sunday included a car bomb blast near Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, that killed seven people, the AP<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported.
The Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, has<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stepped up attacks in the nation in recent days. On Wednesday, three separate<span style="color: Red;">*</span>car bombings in Baghdad killed at least 93 people and wounded more than 150 in one of the deadliest days in Iraq this year.
On Monday, 13 people died when an attacker blew up a minibus in the city of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Baqouba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Iraqi government leaders maintain the attacks are a desperate<span style="color: Red;">*</span>response to the Islamic State's recent military setbacks in Iraq and Syria, where the militant effort to carve out an extremist Islamic caliphate has stalled.
James Piazza,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a political science professor at Penn State who specializes in Middle East affairs, said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a political deadlock that has paralyzed the Iraqi government has made Iraq ripe for terror attacks and made "effective and coherent security policy impossible."
Still, Piazza says that that "substantial battlefield reversals" has put a strain on the Islamic State financially and psychologically.
"The loss of territory has deprived them (Islamic State militants) of access to oil resources and other means of financing their organization," Piazza told USA TODAY. He said the military setbacks represented a<span style="color: Red;">*</span><span style="color: Red;">*</span>"demoralizing, symbolic loss" that also threaten<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the group's international image.
"ISIL is using these high-profile terrorist attacks against symbolically important targets in Iraq, such as Shiite neighborhoods and religious sites, and strategic targets like oil and gas plants, to try to demonstrate that it is potent and attractive to new recruits," he said.
In Syria, the Islamic State is repositioning its<span style="color: Red;">*</span>forces in the group's de facto capital in response to increasing military pressure from coalition airstrikes and ground forces growing in effectiveness there, U.S. officials say.
"We know this enemy feels threatened, as they should," said Col.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Steve Warren, a coalition military spokesman in Baghdad.
[h=4]Posted![/h]A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed