He says revenge attacks are counterproductive, breed resentments and are a great propaganda and recruitment tool for Islamic State, also known as ISIL. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to talk to reporters.
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An Interior Ministry source said at least 165 people were killed and 225 others wounded in the blast.
Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban told reporters Tuesday that the government “has failed in having the different array of security forces work under a unified plan in Baghdad”.
With the cycle of violence persisting, Prime Minister Abadi got an angry reception Sunday when he visited the area of the truck bombing, with some people throwing stones and other objects to express their contempt. He ordered tighter security measures in Baghdad.
Funeral processions crisscrossed the streets of Karrada since the bombing took place on Sunday, before heading to the city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, where many Shia Muslims bury their dead.
Security officials in Baghdad are heavily attuned to the possibility of bombings in crowded areas and until about midnight they had closed the main road along Karrada to vehicle traffic as people started gathering in the hours after residents broke their Ramadan fast. Experts have repeatedly pronounced the wands bogus.
Ghabban also said that checkpoints littered throughout the capital, a pillar of government efforts to secure the city, “are absolutely useless”.
Another man was looking for five of his relatives, including children, who were buying new clothes for Eid-al-Fitr – the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan on Tuesday.
Police Major General Talib Khalil Rahi said the bomber’s minibus had been loaded with plastic explosives and ammonium nitrate. Separate attacks attributed to ISIS in Istanbul and Bangladesh last week underscored the group’s global reach as it endeavors to remain relevant in spite of its shrinking landmass.
At the site of the Baghdad blast earlier Thursday evening, hundreds of death notices have been plastered over what’s left of burned-out buildings on either side of a once bustling thoroughfare.
UN Iraq envoy Jan Kubis said IS militants who had “suffered defeats at the battlefront are seeking to avenge their losses by targeting vulnerable civilians”.
“If they just wash this away and rebuild, we will forget about what happened here”.
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Basking in that success, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, head of the forces’ counterterrorism squad, said: “We congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief… and declare that the [Falluja] fight is over”.
