Two Iraqis face charges

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Two Iraqis detained in Sweden for almost a year were charged Monday with collecting and transferring money to terrorists, Abu Musab Zarqawi, the most wanted terrorist in Iraq.

Stockholm prosecutors said Ali Berzengi, 29, and Ferman Abdulla, 25, collected more than $148,000 and transferred it to Iraq.

The recipients included Ansar al-Islam, a group believed to have links with al Qaida, prosecutors said.

The suspects also transferred money to Zarqawi, whose al Qaida in Iraq group is believed to be behind numerous deadly attacks on American troops and U.S.-trained Iraqi forces, prosecutors said. There is a $25 million bounty for Zarqawi.

The men also sent funds “to persons in Iran for forwarding to Iraq,” prosecutors said.

They said some of the money – at least $70,000 – was linked to Feb. 1, 2004, suicide bombings in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil that killed 109 people.