Iraq's PM: Baghdad Bombing is Security Breach

After the massacre that rocked the center of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, yesterday, Thursday, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, following an emergency meeting with security leaders, called for a security alert to pursue terrorists.

He said during the extraordinary session of the Ministerial Council for National Security today, Friday, "What happened yesterday is a breach that we do not allow to be repeated.”

Kadhimi also noted that "the security services have made a great effort during the past months and there have been major operations against ISIS terrorist gangs.”

The Prime Minister said, "Security is not just a word we speak in the media, but rather a responsibility, for the lives of people.”

He stressed, "There are challenges in the intelligence services that must be addressed urgently, and I will personally supervise this issue, and therefore we will impose a new situation for work and take urgent measures."

Kadhimi also affirmed that Iraq is one state and all its security and military institutions must act in one spirit, and "we will impose unification of intelligence efforts with all seriousness. There is no place for courtesy at the expense of Iraq and the Iraqis."

It is noteworthy that Kadhimi chaired an emergency meeting of the leaders of the security and intelligence services at the Baghdad Operations Command headquarters yesterday. 

He asked that an immediate investigation must be opened to determine the causes of the two explosions, and the pursuit of terrorist cells that facilitated the passage of the perpetrators, and he ordered the dismissal of a number of security officials.

Baghdad's suicide bombers detonated themselves in a popular market in Tayaran Square in the center of the Iraqi capital, killing 32 and wounding more than 110 people.