Islamic State Shifts Tactics Amid Losses by Maria Abi-Habib, Wall Street Journal
As Islamic State loses territory in the grinding war in the Middle East, it is turning to less elaborate but lethal direct attacks on civilian targets such as this past week’s series of deadly suicide bombings in Iraq.
In three straight days of bombings in Baghdad starting on Wednesday, the group killed more than 100 people. In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris in November and Brussels in March, Western and regional officials said they are seeing more signs the militants are morphing back into a guerrilla-style insurgency that relies increasingly on suicide attacks.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan said the latest terror attacks in Iraq stem from Islamic State’s need to make an impact away from the battlefield.
“It is well known that whenever there is a military victory against [Islamic State, they] resort to this criminal, cowardly act by using car bombs or suicide bombers to kill innocent people,” Gen. Maan said..