Baghdad booze bombings: Islamic vice squads or turf war?

france24 ^ | 12/16/2020 | AFP

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Escalating attacks on the Iraqi capital's few liquor stores have terrified shop-owners who fear hardline Islamists are flexing their muscle against alcohol consumption.

But there may be a bigger story behind the Baghdad booze bombings, as some suspect turf wars for control of the lucrative niche trade in the Muslim majority country.

Over the past two months, at least 14 alcohol shops across the city have been firebombed in the middle of the night or just before dawn, with three simultaneous attacks in different districts Monday night alone.

Most businesses are run by Christians or Yazidis, minorities who for decades have been granted the licenses required to sell alcohol in broadly conservative Iraq.

Andre, an Iraqi Christian, said his shop was firebombed a few weeks ago by two people on a motorcycle just before dawn, according to the store's security camera footage.

He said it had cost him thousands of dollars to replace the lost merchandise and repair the shop.

"These groups want the last of the Christians to leave the country. They're targeting us," Andre told AFP, as his brother stacked new bottles of whisky on restored shelves.

He blamed security forces for negligence, saying a police patrol that had been deployed nearby left its post for hours, which gave the attackers a window of opportunity.

"Why doesn't the government arrest them?" Andre asked angrily, saying he had even provided authorities with the license plate number of the attacking vehicle from their CCTV footage.

The attackers had "time to place the explosives, take pictures before and after and publish them on Facebook," he said.

"You really can't pursue these guys?"

- 'All that's left' -

Another business owner, speaking on condition of anonymity in fear of reprisal attacks, said it was an attempt to crush the shrinking community of...