Wire: Iraq Arrests 11 Security Officers After Baghdad Carnage

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2009 -- Newswire services this morning reported that Iraq has detained 11 security officers for questioning about security failures that led to the bloodiest day in Baghdad in more than a year.

The Iraqi government has raised the death toll from Wednesday's bomb and mortar attacks to at least 100. More than 500 people were wounded.

An Iraqi army spokesman told the French news agency AFP that regulations instruct security officers to prohibit trucks of the sort that exploded Wednesday from approaching government ministries.

Tightened security Thursday failed to prevent another bombing in the Iraqi capital. Officials say a bomb strapped to a bicycle killed two people and wounded at least 10 in central Baghdad, VOA News said.

The carnage in Baghdad Wednesday prompted Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to vow an immediate re-evaluation of the government's security methods.

The U.N. Security Council and the United States condemned the bombings. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, in what some have identified as a veiled comparison to Americans at home protesting the President's health reform bill, that the attacks show how far extremists will go to wreak havoc.

(Report from newswire sources.)

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