U.S. Military says Baghdad is not under ‘imminent threat’ from ISIS

U.S. Military says Baghdad is not under ‘imminent threat’ from ISIS. (Taz).

The Iraqi capital Baghdad is not facing immediate danger from ISIS jihadists despite battlefield gains by the group in the country’s west and recent car bombings in the city, the US military said, Al Arabiya reported.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby acknowledged several deadly bombing attacks in Baghdad earlier Thursday, including one claimed by ISIS, but said the city’s defenses were solid.
“We don’t believe that Baghdad is under imminent threat,” Kirby told a news conference.

“It’s not the first time in recent weeks or even months that there’s been IED attacks inside Baghdad,” he said, using the military’s abbreviation for an improvised explosive device or homemade bomb.

The car bomb blasts in and around Baghdad killed at least 26 people and wounded dozens, Iraqi police and medical sources said. One double car bomb attack was claimed by ISIS, which said it targeted a group of Shiite volunteer fighters.

But Kirby said Baghdad was not encircled or about to be overrun.

“There are not masses of formations of ISIS forces outside of Baghdad about to come in,” he said.
Iraqi security forces “continue to stiffen their defensive positions in and around the capital, and in a very competent, capable way.”

Despite a U.S.-led air campaign in Iraq that began on August 8, ISIS has been steadily pushing back Iraqi government forces in western Anbar province, raising fears the militants could soon begin to pile pressure on the outskirts of Baghdad.

U.S. military officers have said Iraqi forces have been struggling in Anbar but there have been few coalition air strikes in the area this week, while dozens of bombing raids have targeted ISIS group near Kobane in northern Syria.

Kirby said “terrible” weather and sand storms in recent days had hampered U.S.-led air strikes in Iraq.

“It’s made it very hard for us to get intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance platforms up over to see what we’re trying to do in Iraq,” he said. Hmmm.....We have no new 'intelligence surveillance' but no need to worry.