Iraq Arrests 600 Since Assassination Attempt

Saddam Hussein’s security forces have arrested about 600 people since last month’s assassination attempt on his son, a leader of the Iraqi opposition said Friday.

Those detained include more than 20 senior officers and officials, said Wafiq al-Samarra’i. A former army intelligence chief, al-Samarra’i has lived in exile in Damascus, Syria, since defecting two years ago.

He said the roundups took place in the capital, Baghdad, and other cities in central Iraq, Saddam’s stronghold.

A leading Arabic-language newspaper reported that four men carried out the Dec. 12 attack on Odai, and said the assailants already have fled Iraq.

Saddam’s eldest son and heir apparent, Odai, was wounded in a grenade and machine-gun attack as he drove through Baghdad.