Chairman Mao laid down the rules for modern guerrilla warfare during the Chinese civil war. “When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue,” he instructed. Iraqi insurgents seem to be following his advice all too closely. During the American “surge” two years ago they melted away. After the surge peaked they renewed their attacks. And barely a month after Iraqi troops took control of the main towns from the slowly departing Americans, blood is once again gushing down the boulevards.

More than 100 civilians were killed in a four-day period this week and hundreds wounded. Two lorries packed with several thousand pounds of high-grade explosives levelled most of a settlement on the edge of Mosul in northern Iraq. Residents were sleeping on their roofs to escape the summer heat when their houses collapsed beneath them. Meanwhile, bombs in Baghdad targeted day-labourers and pilgrims. Altogether this has been the worst spasm of violence in recent memory. Although the attacks were all confined to the capital and the north, while the rest of the country remained relatively calm, they demonstrated a degree of sophistication that American officials thought the insurgents could no longer muster. The truck bombings are reminiscent of the spectacular attacks staged during the early years of the American occupation.

Nobody has claimed responsibility, but there is little doubt that groups like al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, as the Iraqi wing of the jihadist movement calls itself, are at work in Mosul. They have largely been on the retreat since the surge started in 2007. Many of their leaders have been killed or captured. They have also lost popular support—but not their tactical cunning.

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