According to reports, Al Qaeda’s front group in Iraq has claimed responsibility for March 21, 2012 in which 46 people were killed and at least 200 people were injured across the country. The attacks struck Shia pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala, set cars on fire near a police headquarters in Kirkuk and targeted security forces and government officials in Baghdad. The statement by the Islamic State of Iraq, posted on a militant website, said its ‘Sunni lions’ targeted the plan of the ‘fool government preparing’ for the summit. However, the government vowed not to be scared off from hosting the Arab League summit — the first to take place in Iraq since 1990 and a chance to prove it is moving toward normalcy after years of war. The government said last week that Iraq would deploy an unprecedented number of security forces to protect the capital for the Arab League summit. An estimated 26,000 police and soldiers — including more than 4,000 from Iraq’s north and south — are expected to be deployed in Baghdad. But citizens and lawmakers have questioned whether Baghdad would be safe during the Arab meeting.1

• 1. “Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for Iraq attacks,” Khaleej Times, March 21, 2012, at
  http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2...