- The Washington Times - Monday, February 18, 2013

An al Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility Monday for a string of recent car bombings in Baghdad that targeted Shiite districts and left 28 dead.

A statement posted on the group’s website, the Islamic State of Iraq, said the bombings were revenge for the Iraqi government’s repression of the Sunni minority.

“We say to the Sunnis in Baghdad and elsewhere: The situation in which you are living today is exactly what the mujahideen warned you of years ago,” the statement continues, according to a Reuters report. “You are walking in a dark tunnel.”

The car bombs — there were at least eight of them over the weekend, Reuters reported — struck at Baghdad’s busiest market areas.

Islamic State of Iraq militants have claimed responsibility for at least one major attack each month since U.S. troops left the nation in December 2011, Reuters reported.

• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.

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