Al Qaeda’s front group in Iraq said it has launched a campaign of 100 attacks across the country since the middle of August, in a statement seen Saturday by AFP. The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) said the campaign began on August 15, Iraq’s deadliest day in more than a year, and would exact revenge for the death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a US special forces raid in Pakistan in May, and other senior leaders.
The group did not, however, explicitly claim any of the August 15 violence. “We have started this stage with an invasion called ‘Revenge for Sheikh Osama bin Laden and senior leaders’,” said the statement, posted on the Honein jihadist website. “The campaign started in the middle of the fasting month and, if God wills, it will end after 100 attacks,” it said, referring to the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which runs through August.
“They will include raids, martyrdom operations (suicide attacks), roadside bombs, silenced weapons and snipers, in all cities, rural areas and provinces.” On August 15, the day the campaign apparently began, a series of attacks in 18 cities across Iraq left 74 people dead and more than 300 wounded, the deadliest day of violence in the country since May 2010.
