Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, top leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and its affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, announced in an audio message July 22 a new plan to free imprisoned militants, attack the Iraq's judiciary and retake lost territory. "We are setting off a new stage of our struggle, with the launch of a plan named 'Breaking the Walls,'" said the message, which urged the Sunni tribal leaders to send their men to join his movement. "On the occasion of the return of the Islamic State to the regions that we had evacuated from, I urge you to send your sons to join the mujahedeen to defend your religion and honor." He also threatened the US, saying "You will see them [al-Qaeda militants] at the heart of your country with God's willing, since our war against you has just started." (WSJ [5], RFE/RL [6], July 22)
The following day, a string of bomb attacks and shootings in Baghdad, Kirkuk [7] and other cities killed at least 45 and left over 100 wounded. Many of the dead were members of the security forces, which appear to have been a prime target. Two car bombs struck near a government building in Sadr City, the poor Shi'ite district of Baghdad, and in a second Shi'ite district, Hussainiya. Six bombs went off near a housing complex in Taji, a mostly Sunni town north of Baghdad. (BBC News [8], Reuters [9], July 23)
Al-Baghdadi became the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq after Abu Omar al-Baghdadi [10] (no relation) was killed with other top militants in an air and ground assault by a team of US and Iraqi forces in April 2010. (AP [11], July 22)
See our last posts on Iraq [7], the insurgency [12] and the sectarian war [13].
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