Rome, Dec 10 (IANS/AKI) The devastating bomb attacks that struck Baghdad this week do not signal a return to the instability witnessed in the country after the fall of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, an Italian terrorism expert said.
Stefano Dambruoso, Italy’s best known anti-terrorism expert, told AKI: “Compared with the instability of the country when the United States and allied forces had a massive military presence, today we can say that a period of stabilisation of the country is well underway.”

Despite the highly coordinated attacks that killed at least 127 people in the capital Tuesday, he ruled out any return to the previous instability.

However, Dambruoso said that attacks inspired by the Al-Qaeda terror network continued to be carried out and that former Baathist members were an “important part of the internal conflict that has not yet been resolved”.

The Baathist movement is the outlawed political movement of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

According to Dambruoso, “these elements have as an objective, to send a strong message against initiatives that want to further institutionalise and give form to the government of Iraq”, as well as to protest against the elections due to take place March 7.

Ambruoso said that in order to appease violent elements within the Baathist movement, the government should be willing to find a compromise and give them an adequate space for their political expectations.

At least 127 people were killed and 500 others were wounded in several coordinated bomb attacks in the heart of Baghdad.

Five bombs, including at least three suicide bomb attacks, struck near a college, a court complex in western Baghdad, a mosque and a market and a neighbourhood near the interior ministry in what appeared to be a coordinated assault.

The Iraqi government said it suspected Al-Qaeda was behind the bombings and Italy’s foreign minister Franco Frattini said Tuesday “a group close to Al-Qaeda” had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

–IANS/AKI

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