Religious shrines might be targeted to prelude "Northern State of Baghdad"
Shafaq News / A deputy from Salahuddin Governorate warned of "ISIS" attacks that could target "religious shrines," at a beginning to establish the "northern Baghdad state" of the organization.
As the 2006 bombing of Al-Askariyan shrine in Samarra, Salahudding had triggered sectarian violence in Iraq.
"The causes of Mekishifiya and Balad attacks are borne by the security leaders and ministries due to the mismanagement of the security file and neglecting successive security telegrams that warned of bloody terrorist attacks in Salahuddin sector and other areas, criticizing the decisions to replace the competent security and intelligence leaders with weak leaders in Salahuddin for sectarian and political reasons, Mohamed Kareem Al-Baldawi told Shafaq News.
"The exploitation of Corona crisis is necessary to justify the release of many leaders and terrorist elements from prisons after they" failed "to release them with previous amnesty laws."
Al-Baldawi warned of more serious attacks that may target religious shrines in Samarra, Balad and Dujail, in preparation for the establishment of a "northern state of Baghdad," noting that the areas of southern Salahuddin and southern Kirkuk are witnessing escalating terrorist activities amid political preoccupation and clear intelligence neglect by the security authorities in Baghdad.
On Saturday, ISIS launched coordinated attacks in a remarkable escalation targeting security sites in Salahuddin Governorate, causing casualties.
Last April, ISIS militants launched attacks targeting military sites, security checkpoints, and energy facilities, with snipers, improvised explosive devices, and armed or suicide attacks.
The Ministry of Defense announced last month that 170 civilians and military personnel had been killed, along with 135 ISIS terrorists, during clashes and violence since last January.
In 2017, Iraq declared victory over ISIS by reclaiming all of its territory, which was estimated to be about a third of the country’s area invaded by ISIS in the summer of 2014.
