BAGHDAD, May 4, (Agencies): A senior Iraqi security official said Tuesday forces have dismantled a militant network suspected of sending suicide attackers in bomb-laden cars to strike three embassies in Baghdad in April.
Iraq’s presidential council, meanwhile, issued a rare statement of concern about the two months of post-election wrangling that could be seen as a rebuke to the prime minister’s efforts to contest the vote results.
One of the attackers in the April 4 embassy assaults was arrested after he failed to detonate his vehicle, and under interrogation he gave investigators information that led to the capture on April 14 of more members of the network, said military operations spokesman Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi.
The attacks on the German, Iranian and Egyptian embassies killed 46 people.
Since August, insurgents have struck foreign and government targets in Baghdad in large-scale attacks that involved multiple coordinated bombings, claiming hundreds of lives. It is the signature tactic of al-Qaida in Iraq.
In recent months, the government has announced the arrests of senior al-Qaida operatives they say are behind the wave of attacks as well as the killings of its two top leaders, Abu Omar al-Baghdad and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, in a joint Iraq-US military operation.
That operation was based on intelligence gleaned from the leading al-Qaida member in Baghdad, who was arrested on March 11. He was also linked to the network of embassy bombers, al-Moussawi said.
At a news conference Tuesday, the military spokesman showed videotaped confessions of a man he identified as the failed suicide bomber in the embassy attacks, Haitham Ahmed Khalaf, and the network’s alleged ringleader, Mubarak Mohammed Abbas.
Al-Moussawi did not say how many people were arrested in the raid to disrupt the bombing network.
In the April attacks, police said Khalaf attempted to detonate his car in front of his target twice, but failed. When he tried to escape, al-Moussawi said he was shot and wounded by security forces, who then detained him.
“For intelligence reasons, we then announced his death on Iraqiya TV so that we could proceed with investigations on the terrorist network,” al-Moussawi said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has based his reputation on restoring security to Iraq after years of war and instability, and his popularity was shaken by the string of bombings.
Alliance
Officials from Iraq’s two largest Shiite electoral blocs have announced they’ve formed an alliance that gives them a strong chance of setting up the next government.
Nassar al-Rubaie of the Sadrist trend and Khalid al-Attiyah of the prime minister’s coalition told The Associated Press that the two blocs have signed an agreement but left the key question of who will lead the next government to a later date.
The prime minister’s State of Law coalition and the conservative Shiite Iraqi National Alliance agreed they would pool their 159 parliamentary seats, leaving them just four seats shy of a ruling majority.
Iraq’s close fought election on March 7 produced no clear winner, forcing extensive negotiations between the political factions.
Iraqi troops on Monday arrested the head of the Ansar al-Islam insurgent group in Baghdad, US forces said in a statement.
“Iraqi Security Forces arrested the alleged leader of Ansar al-Islam and seven criminal associates during a series of joint security operations conducted in Mansour and Adhamiyah,” it said, referring to areas of Baghdad.
The man, Abu Abdullah Al Shafil, “is believed to have served the terrorist organisation since its inception” and “held association with Osama Bin Laden.”
Ansar al-Islam was created in 2001 by veterans of the 1980s Soviet war in Afghanistan and had its headquarters in Iraqi Kurdistan, near the border with Iran.
Shortly before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, US special forces and fighters from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan fought Ansar al-Islam whose fighters fled their headquarters.
In September 2003, many Ansar al-Islam members formed the soon-to-be renowned militant group Ansar al-Sunna.
Ansar al-Islam “is allegedly responsible for funding and terrorist operations in Europe and the United Kingdom and is a prominent extremist propaganda distributor,” the statement said.
Sentenced
A man who stole nearly $700,000 from the U.S. government while serving as an Army captain in Iraq was sentenced to 30 months in prison Monday.
Michael Dung Nguyen, a graduate of West Point, acknowledged stealing more than $690,000 entrusted to him for distribution to Iraqi humanitarian relief, rebuilding projects and security services. The 28-year-old pleaded guilty to theft and money laundering charges in December.
US District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty also ordered Nguyen to undergo mental health treatment, serve three years of post-prison supervision and pay back $200,000 that he spent on expensive cars and other items while trying to hide the money he stole.
Federal investigators say that between April 2007 and the end of his tour a battalion civil affairs officer in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, in June 2008, Nguyen peeled bills from the bundled stacks, put them in boxes and sent them to his home in Oregon.
Nguyen, based out of Fort Lewis, Washington state, tried to hide the money by depositing it in amounts of less than $10,000 at banks around Portland.
But he caught the interest of the Portland office of the Internal Revenue Service, which then uncovered his purchase of a BMW, a Hummer, electronic equipment and furniture.
Federal investigators also found $300,000 cash hidden in the attic of his house.
Two fast growing Middle Eastern airlines say they are considering starting up services to Iraq.
The chief executives of FlyDubai and Qatar Airways each said on Tuesday they are looking at expanding to multiple cities in the war-scarred country.
If the airlines go ahead with the idea, they will be joining a growing number of carriers — including Germany’s Lufthansa and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways — entering the Iraqi market as security improves and business picks up.
FlyDubai CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith told The Associated Press that “Iraq is definitely on our radar” and that the country is “currently underserved.”