Iraqi PM Mustafa Al Kadhimi meets with families of victims of the Baghdad bombings. Courtesy Iraqi Prime Minister's Office
Iraqi PM Mustafa Al Kadhimi meets with families of victims of the Baghdad bombings. Courtesy Iraqi Prime Minister's Office
Iraqi PM Mustafa Al Kadhimi meets with families of victims of the Baghdad bombings. Courtesy Iraqi Prime Minister's Office
Iraqi PM Mustafa Al Kadhimi meets with families of victims of the Baghdad bombings. Courtesy Iraqi Prime Minister's Office

Iraqi PM vows ‘just punishment’ to families of Baghdad bombing victims


Mina Aldroubi
  • English
  • Arabic

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi vowed “just punishment” to families of victims of the Baghdad double suicide attack that shook the capital.

The January 21 attacks were the biggest Baghdad has experienced in three years. They killed at least 32 people and wounded hundreds more late last month.

“We will get revenge on those who have been involved in spilling the blood of Iraqis," he told families who lost loved ones, adding the blood of Iraqis is "precious".

"I am a father and a brother to all those who fell without guilt in the streets of Baghdad, and my humanitarian and moral duty requires the search for just retribution,” he said.

The suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of shoppers at a second-hand clothes market in Tayaran Square. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

Suicide bombings have become increasingly rare since the government announced victory over ISIS at the end of 2017.

“The state is the guardian of your blood and blood of all Iraqis, and we must all build a strong, free and capable Iraqi state,” Mr Al Kadhimi said.

Despite the government's military defeat over the insurgents, the UN estimated last year that more than 10,000 ISIS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria.

Extremist sleeper cells continue to operate a low level insurgency in rural areas, targeting security forces.

The first bomber in the Baghdad attack went into the market towards a crowd of people claiming to feel ill before blowing himself up, according to an interior ministry statement.

The second bomber blew himself up as others came to help the victims, said the statement.

Following the attack the government announced a new military operation to take down the extremists, in which a senior leader of ISIS operations in Iraq was killed.

Abu Yaser Al Issawi was an ISIS commander who had claimed to be the leader of the group in Iraq and its "deputy caliph".

"We promised and fulfilled," Mr Al Kadhimi said.

A few days ago an American airstrikes in a joint mission with Iraqi forces killed another ISIS leader.

The ISIS commander, Jabbar Salman Ali Farhan Al Issawi, 43, known as Abu Yasser, was killed near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, American-led military coalition and Iraqi officials said Friday.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Fixtures All matches start at 9.30am, at ICC Academy, Dubai. Admission is free

Thursday UAE v Ireland; Saturday UAE v Ireland; Jan 21 UAE v Scotland; Jan 23 UAE v Scotland

UAE squad Rohan Mustafa (c), Ashfaq Ahmed, Ghulam Shabber, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Shaiman Anwar, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Naveed, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan