A few days after the deadliest of many car bombings in Baghdad since the 2003, Iraq’s interior minister submitted his official resignation on Tuesday and said that a deputy would take over his responsibilities.
Mohammed Ghabban made the announcement at a media conference in Baghdad, a video of which was posted on his Facebook page. His resignation will be officially in effect only if Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi approves it. Abadi’s office issued no immediate comment.
In a series of ongoing cruel and violent attacks Iraq experiences, a car bomb blast on Saturday killed at least 175 people in Baghdad’s central shopping district of Karradah.
It was the worst single car bomb attack in Iraq since U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein 13 years ago and deepened the anger of many Iraqis over the weak performance of the security apparatus.
ISIS militants, who government forces are trying to eject from large swathes of northern and western territory seized in 2014, claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Terrorist group ISIS remains capable of savage attacks causing major loss of life despite having lost hold of considerable ground on the battlefield, most recently being the city of Fallujah, an hour’s drive west of the capital.
Ghabban in an interview last month said that a recent spate of ISIS bombings in Baghdad would not end unless “disorder” plaguing Iraq’s security apparatus was rectified.
He said then that security forces outside his control – including units reporting to two counter-terrorism agencies, two Defense Ministry directorates and regional security commands – overlap with his ministry’s own counter-intelligence efforts.
Asharq Al-Awsat English
Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities. Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world.
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