The White House strongly condemned the Islamic State’s massive car bombing in Baghdad Wednesday but offered no new steps to try to stop the instability, other than to reiterate the United States’ strong support of Iraqi President Haider Abadi and his efforts to form an inclusive government.
The car bombing in Baghdad’s Shiite district of Sadr City killed more than 80 people and injured dozens more.
“These attacks demonstrate that these terrorists carry out these abominable attacks without regard to innocent civilian life and in order to stoke tensions between these communities even further,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters during his daily briefing. “We reiterate our solidarity with the Iraqi people against the threat from [the Islamic State].”
Protecting the citizens of Iraq from “abhorrent” acts of violence such as the bombing is the top priority of Abadi’s government, and Abadi has worked hard to demonstrate an effort to include both Sunni and Shiite Muslims, as well as other ethnic minorities in his leadership ranks, Earnest said.
“Abadi has worked hard across sectarian lines to build diverse support for his government and for the effort to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL,” he said. “That’s why the U.S. has found President Abadi and the Iraqi central government to be an effective partner, and that’s why we continue to stand with them as they confront this serious threat.”
Last month President Obama decided to send more than 200 additional troops to Iraq, as well as Apache helicopters for the first time, to help Iraqi troops fight the terrorist group. That move increased the number of authorized troop levels in Iraq from 3,879 to 4,087.
The additional troops consist mostly of Army Special Forces, who make up the majority of the servicemen in Iraq there to advise and assist the Iraqi army.
Earnest also lamented the threat the Islamic State poses as it advances on the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, just weeks after his recapture by Syrian forces backed by Russian air strikes.
“I don’t have the latest battlefield assessment to offer here,” Earnest said. “…We obviously were pleased to see ISIL give up Palmyra … and we certainly don’t want to see ISIL take on more territory especially such a historically and culturally important city” as Palmyra.
The Islamic State has cut a key supply route for the Syrian regime to Palmyra and claims to be advancing on the city, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources on the ground.
