Al-Qa'ida claims responsibility for Eid holiday bombings in Iraq

An Iraqi officer inspects the site of a car bomb near Karbala (EPA)

An al-Qa'ida affiliate said it carried out Saturday's bombings in Iraq, which killed dozens of people, in response to a government campaign to arrest suspected militants, the SITE Monitoring group reported today.

The statement from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), posted on Jihadist forums, claimed responsibility for the attacks across Baghdad and in provinces in southern Iraq targeting people celebrating the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, SITE said.

It has been one of the deadliest Ramadan holidays in years in Iraq, where Sunni Islamist militants are waging an insurgency against Iraq's Shi'ite-led government.

In response to mass jail breaks last month claimed by al-Qa'ida, Iraqi security forces have carried out an "Avenge the Martyrs" campaign to arrest suspected militants.

"They will pay a high price for what they did, and they will not be secure day or night during Eid or other times, so they should watch their footsteps and stop the detention campaigns and cease harming the Sunni clans," the ISIL statement said according to a SITE translation.

Reuters