Special to WorldTribune.com

BAGHDAD — Al Qaida has warned of a civil war in Iraq.

Al Qaida in Iraq has taken responsibility for a series of strikes
against Shi’ite targets, including one which killed at least 60 people on Feb.
23. AQI said the attacks would precede a Sunni war with Shi’ites.

“The war of the Sunnis with the [Shi’ites] is a religious war, a holy
war of faith,” the Al Qaida-sponsored Islamic State of Iraq said.

In a statement on Feb. 24, ISI spokesman Abu Mohammed Al Adnani warned of a civil war in wake of the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq. Al Adnani, in a 33-minute audio, said such a war was imminent.

“There is no way out of it and there is no swerving from it,” Al Adnani said.

Officials acknowledged that AQI was seeking to destabilize Iraq and
particularly its Shi’ite-led government. They said AQI was receiving renewed support from the minority Sunni community amid increasing complaints of discrimination by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki.

ISI said the bombings on Feb. 23, believed to have been coordinated,
were meant to avenge the execution and torture of Sunni detainees. In 2012,
Iraq has executed at least 68 prisoners, the lion’s share of them Sunnis.

“Is there a glimmer of hope that these explosions come to an end in
Iraq?” Ahmed Al Safi, a senior Shi’ite cleric, told a sermon on Feb. 24 in
Karbala. “After a few days, when people calm down and forget, these
explosions take place again. We live in the whirl of this unsolved security
problem. How long will the situation last?”

  Abu Mohammed Al Adnani, Ahmed Al Safi, Al Qaida in Iraq: ‘No way out of’ coming civil war with Shi’ites, execution and torture of Sunni detainees, Nouri Al Maliki, Sunni war with Shi’ites