Massive suicide bombing tests Iraqis' faith in PM al-Abadi government: poll

The deadliest suicide bombing in Iraq in a decade will further test Iraqis' waning faith in Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his government, found a Gallup poll Wednesday.

The July 3 attack, which killed more than 250 people in Baghdad, was carried out by the terror group the Islamic State (IS).

In April this year, only 34 percent of Iraqis approved of al-Abadi's job performance -- a sharp contrast from the 72 percent approval ratings when he first took office in 2014 after the departure of Nouri al-Maliki, Gallup found.

The high approval ratings when al-Abadi first took office illustrated the lofty expectations Iraqis had for their prime minister.

Al-Abadi was expected to help bridge the ethnic and sectarian divides in Iraq and wrest control over parts of Iraq from IS. The political honeymoon proved short-lived, however, with al-Abadi's approval rating sinking to 47 percent by late 2015 -- across most, if not all, governorates of Iraq, Gallup said.

Al-Abadi's latest low approval ratings were collected during weeks of political turmoil within the country's parliament that culminated with supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr storming parliament.

The prime minister's low approval ratings may be symptomatic of Iraqis' low approval of their country's leadership in general -- which now sits at 35 percent -- and their falling confidence in their national government, which stands at 42 percent, Gallup found.

The bombing attack took place just as the Iraqi government celebrated its victory against the IS in the city of Fallujah. Iraq's interior minister later resigned, blaming the bombing on failing security measures around Baghdad and calling for reform.

Iraq has plunged into chaos and sectarian violence that caused widespread displacement and sufferings of civilians since the U.S. invasion and occupation of the country in 2003, especially after the U.S. troop pullout in 2011 that gave rise to the terror groups such as IS.

Between 2006 and 2007, Iraq saw a massive level of sectarian violence caused by sectarian divisions and clashes.

The July 3 attack was the second worst suicide bombing in Iraq after the 2007 bombings in the Yazidi towns of Kahtaniya and Jazeera near Mosul, in which more than 500 people were killed.

While IS is now on the defensive, analysts say it may be lashing out to prove it remains a force to be reckoned with. Endit