Baghdad: The Islamic State of Iraq, an Iraqi group linked to Al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the deadliest attacks carried out on Monday, killing at least 115 people across the country, media reported on Wednesday.
In a message posted on Jihadi websites, the group said that the bombings and shootings were linked to a new campaign announced by its leader, Abu Bakr Baghdadi, last week to reassert its power in Iraq.
It claimed that foreign media had under-reported the attacks’ effect by “reducing the results of these operations and slandering the image of their perpetrators,” according to SITE monitoring service.
The attacks made Monday the deadliest day in Iraq in more than two years. Even before its Tuesday message was issued, the Al Qaeda-affiliated group was widely believed by outside experts and Western officials to be behind the offensive.
The Stae Department Spokesman Victoria Nuland Monday condemned the attacks and said Al Qaeda in Iraq “are making desperate efforts to call on Sunnis to turn against their government.”
The offensive comes as tension between Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims in Iraq has intensified, a turn that extremists could exploit to gain footing there. Shiites leading the government have accused a top Sunni official of terrorism charges; he and his allies say the case is purely political.
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