Sectarian violence in and around Bahgdad killed seven people on Tuesday, extending bloodshed that in January had claimed more than 1,000 lives – the worst monthly figure in nearly six years – and deepening fears that Iraq may be entering into a cycle of instability that risks outright state failure. Monday had seen violence in the area that killed at least 16 people, with suspected Al Qaeda-linked terrorists detonating a series of car bombs. The Iraqi army has been pressing a counter-insurgency campaign in the Anbar province, attempting to uproot the extensive jihadist infrastructure in the region. The violence threatens to strain the central government’s ability to quite literally hold the country together, and Kurdish media in Iraq has taken to openly speculating that northern Kurdish areas will formally seek independence in the coming years.

“Kurdistan is going to be rid of its status as a region within Iraq,” said Ali Balu,former head of Iraqi parliament’s oil and gas committee. “A plan is underway for Kurdistan to be an independent state in the near future,” he said. Balu believes that plans and preparations are being made on the international stage aimed at declaring independence, which he says will be driven by Kurdistan’s geostrategic position and rich energy reserves.

Meanwhile it is unclear whether growing divisions inside the Sunni extremist camp – Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri this week formally disassociated the organization from its former Iraqi affiliate – will weaken the insurgency or generate further splintering.

[Photo: TheNewsSyriaWars / YouTube]