Iraq Arrests 13 Over Deadly Bomb Attacks
Source: SKY
5:04pm UK, Sunday December 13, 2009
Thirteen people have been arrested in connection to the Baghdad bomb attacks that killed more than 100 people.
An Iraqi fireman surveys the damage at the site of one of the car bombs
Iraqi officials said those detained were suspected of planning the car bombs and a suicide attack last Tuesday.
An interior ministry official said the 13 in custody were believed to have links with al Qaeda.
At least 127 people died in the blasts that targeted government sites in the Iraqi capital.
The country's MPs have been questioning security chiefs over the protection provided by Iraqi forces.
Last Tuesday's bomb attacks hit at the heart of government - one blast going off outside the labour ministry and another near the site of the new finance ministry building.
"I can assure you our forces are capable of facing up the challenges we face on the ground," interior minister Jawad al-Bolani told Parliament.
"We have in our ministry an information and investigation department which dedicates 50% of its work to the fight against terrorism."
Also facing MPs was Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar, who lost his job as head of Iraq's security forces following the December 8 bombings.
He said his department had received information from the US military on two attacks planned for last Tuesday.
Lt Gen Qanbar told Parliament: "The attacks did not take place at the sites (stated) and the type of vehicles used were not those of which we had been informed."
He added the number of car bomb attacks in Baghdad had fallen from 207 in 2007, to 88 last year and was down to 46 so far in 2009.
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