BAGHDAD — An al-Qaida front group claimed responsibility Wednesday for bombing a state-run investment bank, gloating over its ease in penetrating security in an attack that killed at least 18 people.
Sunday's attack on the Trade Bank of Iraq was meant to expose the weakness of the country's stalled government, according to a statement posted on the website of the Islamic State of Iraq. The statement called the bank a "stronghold of evil" because it was established to attract foreign investment.
"The soldiers of the Islamic State, in spite of all protections, managed to penetrate all security barriers and checkpoints and reach the target," the group's statement said.
The group, which is allied with al-Qaida, taunted the government for its inability to keep the peace.
"The challenge is still open to the dwarves of the Green Zone," the statement said in a stab at Iraqi leaders who live and work behind heavily fortified blast walls in central Baghdad.
The same group claimed responsibility for last week's strike on the Central Bank of Iraq, the nation's treasury, in which at least 26 died in a commando-style assault by bombers and shooters.
