Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said today his government had information al Qaeda-linked groups were planning a series of attacks across the country, state television reported.
Maliki made his comments as the US military prepared to formally end its combat mission in Iraq on August 31.
Iraq has been hit by a string of attacks over the past few weeks that have killed dozens and underscored the country’s fragility as politicians squabble over forming a new government almost six months after a March poll produced no clear winner.
Al Iraqiya television quoted Maliki as saying that Sunni Islamist al Qaeda and members of former dictator Saddam Hussein’s banned Baath party planned to stage more attacks.
“Based on the information that has been made available to us ... the criminal alliance of al Qaeda and the remains of the former regime of Baathists are planning, with a foreign backing, to stage a series of bombings and killings on selected provinces from the south to the north,” Maliki said.
On Wednesday, insurgents killed 62 people in coordinated attacks on Iraqi police. A week earlier a suicide bomber blew himself up at an army recruitment centre in Baghdad, killing at least 57 people.
Overall violence in Iraq has dropped sharply in the past two years compared to the days of sectarian carnage in 2006-7, but bombings and killings remain daily occurrences
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