Attacks Targeting Children

“We are in a society of insecurity,” AP quoted Education Minister Abdul Fallah al-Sudani saying. “Schools are not excluded from the suffering of our society.” Driving a wedge between Sunni and Shias, insurgents have stepped up attacks on schools this month, targeting children as civilian casualties mount. AP reported the growing conflict has reached an immense scale in recent weeks, with Iraqi authorities unable to stop the attacks, or in some cases complicit in them. AP said 150 people died in the past two days, “threatening to tear apart Iraq.” Attacks and threats shut 417 schools in the four-month period - most only for a few weeks, but some longer - disrupting the education of thousands of children. Another AP wire documented the killing of a math teacher in southern Baghdad Monday for unknown reasons.