American military advisers in Iraq are working closely with national counterterrorism and local police forces to prevent the Islamic State terror group or other extremist entities from disrupting key parliamentary elections, scheduled for later this year.
Officials from the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq are moving ahead on efforts “to ensure the [security] conditions are set” for the May elections, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. James Glynn told reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday.
In the weeks ahead of the parliamentary elections — the first national elections since ISIS was driven out of its northern Iraqi stronghold of Mosul — senior U.S. advisers and their counterparts in the Iraqi Security Forces have been drilling into “things that need to be done now” to guarantee the safety of the hundreds of thousands Iraqis expected to head to the polls, he said during a briefing from coalition headquarters in Baghdad.
Gen. Glynn, who is second in command for Special Operations Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve, declined to comment on what specific measures will be taken in the run-up to the May elections, or what efforts are already underway, to prevent any potential terror attacks against national polling centers or government institutions in the nation’s capital.
His comments come a day after Baghdad was rocked by a pair of massive suicide bombs leaving 26 dead and over 90 injured, according to local reports.
ISIS claimed responsibility for Monday’s early morning attack, which targeted the city’s bustling al-Tayaran Square, saying the bombings were the beginning of a so-called “vengeance” campaign by the jihadi group against Iraq’s central government.
Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Salim al-Jabouri condemned Monday’s attack and urged Iraqi security forces to do more to ensure the safety of the country’s citizens.
“We condemn the terrorist acts that targeted innocent people in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and we call on security bodies to take required measures to protect citizens,” he told members of parliament Monday.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi mobilized the country’s counterterrorism and intelligence directorates to begin hunting down the ISIS cell responsible for the al-Tayaran Square attack, according to local reports.
Mr. Abadi’s coalition government is facing mounting public pressure to improve security conditions in a post-ISIS Iraq. His regime is also under political siege by a new Shia political group led by the heads of the country’s Iranian-backed militias.
The new Iraqi political faction, dubbed the Mujahedeen Coalition, includes representatives from the Shia-led Badr Organization, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq — also known as the Khazali Network — Kata’ib Hezbollah and other Shia militias that battled ISIS under the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) banner.
The new Shia political faction could seize a sizable portion of the Iraqi parliament, forcing Mr. Abadi into a power sharing deal with the militia leaders or risk his ruling party being unseated by the upstart Shia coalition.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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