Tensions flare in Iraq, Syria
Group linked to al-Qaida says it bombed two ministries
BAGHDAD – An al-Qaida-affiliated group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the devastating suicide bombings at two government ministries in Baghdad last week, while Iraq and Syria recalled their ambassadors in an escalating dispute over whether Damascus may have aided the attacks.
The claim of responsibility came in a statement posted on the Internet by the Islamic State of Iraq, the name now used by the al-Qaida in Iraq organization. The group does not often acknowledge a role in bombings.
However, Iraq’s government appears convinced that members of Saddam Hussein’s dismantled Baath Party based in Syria were primarily responsible for the devastating blasts last Wednesday, which killed 95 people and wounded more than 500 in one of the worst attacks ever to strike the heart of Baghdad.
At a meeting Tuesday, the Iraqi Cabinet demanded that Syria hand over two Baathist leaders believed to be living there and summoned back to Baghdad the Iraqi envoy to Damascus.
“A decision was made to direct a demand to the country where the attack was launched,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told reporters, directly implicating Syria during a visit to Baghdad’s governor.
He also called for an international war crimes tribunal to be established to try the suspects. Al-Maliki said he believed al-Qaida also played a role in the attacks, but his remarks mainly focused on the alleged role played by Baathists and Syria.
On Sunday, Iraqi state television had broadcast a videotaped confession by a man claiming to be a Baathist who said he had helped carry out the bombing at the Finance Ministry. He said he had acted on the orders of an Iraqi based in Damascus called Sattam Farhan, who was working for the Baathist group led by Mohammed Yunes Ahmed.
Iraq’s Cabinet demanded Tuesday that Syria hand over both Farhan and Ahmed, as well as others for carrying out attacks in Iraq, according to a statement by government spokesman Ali Dabbagh.
Syria promptly recalled its own envoy from Baghdad, marking a sharp deterioration in relations between two neighbors who have long had frosty ties because of Syria’s suspected role in harboring senior leaders of the former regime and facilitating the flow of foreign fighters across its border to join al-Qaida.
Syria denied the allegations, saying they were based on “fabricated evidences intended to serve internal political goals,” according to Syria’s state news agency.