Big booms continue in Iraq: Part II

Bit of an update on the attack in Tikrit on March 29th that targeted the provincial council. To the surprise of no one, the Islamic State of Iraq (aka Al Qaida in Iraq by another name) has claimed responsibility. In their statement they proclaim that the attack occured "in response to the ‘crimes’ committed in Tikrit’s Prison", but of course do not mention what those crimes are.

I haven't been paying enough attention to understand what is going on in the Iraqi prison system but it wouldn't surprise me to learn of harsh treatment or even torture. However, claiming "crimes committed" as the reason for a violent suicide attack targeting a provincial council strikes me as grasping for excuses by an organization desperately seeking to gain the approval of the population. It also may shed some light on who provided assistance to the attackers in order for this attack to be successful. I may be reading too much into this, but if I were to guess, I would say that a local tribe or tribes assisted or allowed the attack to occur. If a tribal member or members, perhaps even a sheikh, were held and felt mistreated then it would only make sense that this tribe would then enable ISI to conduct the attack in order to regain honor or satisfy the need for revenge.

Like I said, this is only my guess but it's based on my experiences in Iraq.

On a related note, the Chairman of the Security Committee in Diyala Province's Council is claiming that the attack occured in Salah al Din province because security forces in Diyala had foiled a similar plot in Baqubah so ISI was forced to attack elsewhere. I'm skeptical, mostly because I'm not sure the Diyala Emergency Police are capable of foiling anything except roasted lamb and chicken; but I'm really skeptical because I don't believe ISI/AQI is that coordinated in Iraq right now. If you disrupt the network in one city or province, they just are not capable of switching the attack to another city/province. At most suicide bombers would be shifted but from what I saw in Iraq in 2010, even the suicide bombers were local to the area in which they conducted an attack. The attack was conducted in Tikrit because local (or at least provincial) networks and cells planned and coordinated the attack, not because the network was disrupted in Diyala.