IS bombings highlight Iraqi capital’s vulnerability

BAGHDAD – A wave of Islamic State bombings in Baghdad has killed nearly 100 people in two days, exposing lingering gaps in the capital’s defenses, which are manned by an array of security agencies and militias that don’t always cooperate.

The attacks also point to the resilience of the extremist group, which has increasingly resorted to bombings in civilian areas far from the front lines as it has lost territory to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.

Three attacks Wednesday in Baghdad left more than 90 people dead and 165 wounded. The deadliest struck a crowded market selling food, clothing and household goods in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.

On Thursday, two suicide bombers hit a police station in Baghdad’s westernmost suburb of Abu Ghraib, killing five policemen and wounding 12.

Bombings have been a fixture of life in the Iraqi capital since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Security has improved since then, but at the checkpoints in and around the capital, security forces still use electric wands that have been repeatedly discredited, and security is often handled by armed groups that are allied with the government but also loyal to political parties or militias.

Shortly after the Islamic State group swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, top Shiite clerics called on volunteers to defend the country. The call-to-arms gave security forces a much-needed influx of thousands of men, but also hastened the rise of powerful militias.

The Shiite militias officially operate under the direct command of the prime minister through an umbrella group known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, but command and control remains decentralized. In Baghdad, they operate alongside federal and local police, intelligence agencies and different army divisions.

“There is a multitude of security forces and no higher authority coordinating them,” said a senior Iraqi intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s office said he “ordered an immediate investigation to find the reasons that led to these security breaches and called for greater accountability for negligence.”