BAGHDAD, Dec 15, (Agencies): Iraqi authorities have obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim al-Qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season, two senior officials said Wednesday.
Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press that the botched bombing in central Stockholm last weekend was among the alleged plots the insurgents revealed. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, in a telephone interview from New York, called the claims “a critical threat.”
Both al-Bolani and Zebari said Iraq has informed Interpol of the alleged plots, and alerted authorities in the US and European countries of the possible danger. Neither official specified which country or countries in Europe are alleged targets.
There was no way to verify the insurgents’ claims. But Western counterterrorism officials generally are on high alert during the holiday season, especially since last year’s failed attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called underwear bomber, who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

Al-Bolani said several insurgents claimed to be part of a cell that took its orders directly from al-Qaeda’s central leadership. He said at least one of the captured suspects was a foreign fighter from Tunisia.
US authorities say an alleged al-Qaeda operative arrested in Britain was part of an international conspiracy to attack targets in England, the United States and Norway.
Lawyer David Perry told a court that the US government is seeking the extradition of 24-year-old Abid Naseer so that he can stand trial for his alleged role in the plot, which Perry says included a plan to attack a Manchester shopping center in tandem with targets abroad.
Authorities in the US and Norway have previously linked the purported attack with plots to bomb the New York City subway and an unspecified target in Norway.
Naseer has previously denied the allegations. He spoke Wednesday only to confirm his name and date of birth.

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ARBIL, Iraq: Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, who caused alarm with a self-determination call, has said the Kurds would remain part of a federal Iraq but refused to live under a dictatorship.
“Some people say: ‘The Kurds want their independence, so let them go away forever.’ But our reply to them is: ‘Iraq is ours, Iraq is our country,” he said in a speech on Tuesday night at the end of a congress of his party.
The president of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq caused a stir at the start of the week-long congress of his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) by calling for the right to self-determination.
For Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni Arabs, whose leaders also attended Saturday’s session, such a right for the minority non-Arab Kurds would spell a breakup of the country.
“My message to our Arab brothers, whether they are Sunni or Shiites, to our friends and allies ... is the following: we are committed to a federal and democratic Iraq, to its constitution,” said Barzani.

BAGHDAD: The head of a Sunni-backed political party will join the Shiite-led government being assembled by his top rival, according to a spokeswoman, clearing a final hurdle to end months of tortuous, postelection dealmaking.
The breakthrough on Tuesday cements what the Obama administration has been pushing for as US troops prepare to leave Iraq by the end of 2011: an inclusive government that distributes power among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to forge stability after more than seven years of war.

KARBALA, Iraq: Hundreds of thousands of Shiites descended on the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala on Wednesday ahead of the climax of Ashura ceremonies, surrounded by heavy security for fear of attack.
Among them, dozens of pilgrims chanted anti-graft songs in an Ashura tradition whereby they vent their anger over current issues.
Black flags, symbolising the sadness of Shiites during the rituals, were visible across the city alongside pictures of the revered imams Hussein and Abbas, both of whom are buried in Karbala.
In a show of piety, tens of thousands of faithful were completing on foot the 100 kms (60 mile) journey from the capital Baghdad.