July 30: Al Qaeda briefly planted its flag in Baghdad on Friday as militants killed 23 members of Iraq’s security forces across the country in a combination of shootings and roadside bombs demonstrating the dangers the country still faces.
The worst attack came in Baghdad’s Sunni neighbourhood of Azamiyah when 16 Iraqi security forces were killed by what appeared to have been coordinated strikes by Al Qaeda militants, who then planted their flag close to the blood-soaked site.
The daylight attack on the northern district, once an insurgent stronghold, was the boldest move by militants since their commando-style assault on the Central Bank in June that left 26 people dead during morning rush hour.
Militants attacked an Azamiyah checkpoint and then set it on fire, burning several of the soldiers’ bodies, according to an Army officer who was on patrol in the neighbourhood.
Minutes later, attackers detonated three roadside bombs nearby, the officials said. A large pool of blood and what appear to be char marks could be seen on the ground near an Iraqi Army truck. Authorities immediately sealed off the area.
The Azamiyah attack came in what was already a deadly day for Iraq’s security forces, which are increasingly being targeted by insurgents as all but 50,000 US troops prepare to leave the country by the end of August.