The death toll increased Thursday to at least 195 following Wednesday's series of bombing attacks across in Baghdad -- the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop surge started nine weeks ago, the AP reported.
Following the blasts, angry Iraqis who lost loved ones lashed out at Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, blaming his government for failing to bring law and order to the streets of the capital. Late Wednesday, al-Maliki ordered the arrest of the Iraqi army colonel who was in charge of security in the area around the Sadriyah market where at least 140 people died and 148 were injured in the deadliest bombing of the day.
Nationwide, the number of people died or found dead on Wednesday was 233.
Al-Maliki blamed the attacks on infidels and "Takfiri vampires" and demanded that politicians condemn it. According to AFP, he also said: "This monstrous attack today did not distinguish between the old and young, between men and women. It targeted the population in a way that reminds us of the massacres and genocide committed by the former dictatorship."
On his part, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates vowed that Washington would persevere with the security plan, saying a spike in violence was to be expected. "We have anticipated from the very beginning... that the insurgency and others would increase the violence to make the people of Iraq believe the plan is a failure," Gates said during a visit to Israel. "We intend to persist to show that it is not."
