BAGHDAD, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Security officials in Iraq say towering, concrete blast walls shielding the capital will not be torn down as planned.
The decision comes a week after almost 100 people were killed in violent bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Officials had said earlier this month that most of blast walls girding the capital would be demolished within 40 days.
Swiftly after the attack, however, Tahseen al-Sheikhli, a civilian spokesman for security operations in Baghdad, said plans to remove all walls across the capital by the end of 2009 or earlier would "no longer be implemented as planned."
The official said it would now be up to local military commanders to decide on whether to bring down the blast walls that have kept neighborhoods divided and government buildings shielded since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Coordinated attacks last week by two truck bombs killed 95 people and injured more than 1,000, shaking the confidence of many Iraqis who had come to believe that the worst show of violence in their war-ravaged country had been over.
The attacks also dealt a blow to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, credited with improving security, working to centralize his power and ensuring loyalists within senior military ranks ahead of a general election set for next year.
The embattled prime minister said the twin truck bomb attacks were in response to the announcement to dismantle the walls as early as the end of September.
"After Wednesday's events," Sheikhli said, "the battle took on a different direction. A review has been made of removing these walls in many areas."
"Leaders in the field now will have to decide," he added.
The walls have long symbolized the state of chaos and destruction that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis and rattled the city of Baghdad since 2003. By tearing them down, officials hoped to signal a promising step towards normality as U.S. troops prepare to suspend combat operations next year.
The worrying surge in bombings has rattled public confidence in the Iraqi government's capacity to maintain security and Maliki's campaign platform.
It has also uncorked public outrage from Iraqis who now blame local soldiers and police for failing to stop would-be suicide bombers at checkpoints. Adding to the malaise, senior officials have also pointed blame at security officials, accusing them of possible involvement.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a member of Iraq's Kurdish minority, said the attacks were due in part to a false sense of security that led to earlier decisions to remove some blast walls and checkpoints.
