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The Iraqi government on Tuesday blamed a Moroccan based in Syria for a triple car bomb attack that killed at least 60 people north of Baghdad, and the defense minister called on Arab governments to demand that Syria curb the movement of foreign fighters into Iraq.
Also Tuesday, the US military said an American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in central Iraq the day before, raising to at least 93 the number of US service members who died in October, the fourth deadliest month for the troops in the Iraq war.
In a statement, the Iraqi government identified the Moroccan as Muhsen Khayber, also known as Abdul-Majid al-Libi and Abdul-Rahim, who is also sought in his homeland for the terror bombings in Casablanca in May 2003.
The statement alleged that Khayber masterminded the Sept. 29 attack in which three vehicles exploded almost simultaneously in Balad, a mainly Shiite market town 50 miles north of Baghdad. At least 60 people were killed and about 70 were wounded. Iraqi officials offered an unspecified reward for information leading to Khayber's arrest.
Iraqi officials did not cite any evidence to link Khayber to the Balad attacks but have long maintained that foreign Islamic extremists play a major role in the suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Iraqis in recent months.
Spanish authorities, however, believe Khayber was part of a network linked to Ansar al-Islam, an Islamic extremist group based in northern Iraq that recruits foreign fighters to battle the US-led coalition.
The Iraqi statement said Khayber moved last year to Syria, "where he helped organize terrorist cells for foreign terrorists" who were sent to Iraq.
Arab media said Khayber was arrested in Syria in May 2004 and handed over to the Moroccans.
Moroccan government spokesman Nabil Benabdallah, reached by telephone, would say only that he had not heard of Khayber.
However, a Moroccan analyst who attended high school with Khayber, Abdellah Rami, said he doubted Khayber was in custody because he still sends money to his two wives in the Moroccan city of Larache, where he was born in 1970. He also said Khayber was a vehement critic of Shiite Muslims, the main victims of the Balad attacks.
"Khayber used to support the killings of Shiites in Pakistan or the killing of Christians, even before Sept. 11," Rami said. "He became very animated in the discussions, very fanatic."
Syria has denied supporting Iraqi insurgent groups and insists it is trying to control the porous border.
But in a meeting with reporters, Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi warned the Damascus government against interfering in Iraq and called on Arab governments to pressure Damascus to crack down on Iraqi opposition groups operating from Syrian soil.
Al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab like most of the insurgents, said more than 400 foreign fighters, mostly Egyptians, have been arrested in Iraq, but he gave no timeframe. He said foreign fighters are met at the Damascus airport, trained for two to three weeks and then sent into Iraq.
"The silence of the Arab regimes regarding the Syrian role in Iraq is as if they approve," al-Dulaimi told reporters. "I call on all the Arab regimes to pressure the Syrian brothers to put an end to the spilling of the Iraqi blood. I don't want to say more because this is a painful and sad issue to me."
Al-Dulaimi said he had told the Syrians repeatedly to stop "playing with your destiny and the destiny of Iraq. Iraq will not be turned into a new Lebanon." Syria controlled Lebanon from 1976 until it withdrew its troops last April under international pressure after the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Iraqi allegations of a Syrian role were made as Damascus faces mounting international pressure to cooperate in a UN investigation into Hariri's killing. On Monday, the UN Security Council warned of possible "further action" if Syria does not cooperate with the inquiry.
An Internet message posted Tuesday in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq said two kidnapped Moroccans would stand trial in an Islamic court.
On Oct. 25, the group claimed to have abducted the men, identified by the Moroccan government as Abdelkrim el Mouhafidi and Abderrahim Boualam, employees of its Baghdad embassy who were kidnapped while driving back from Jordan.
The authenticity of the statement could not be verified, but it was posted on an Islamic Web site known for publishing the group's material. Al-Qaida in Iraq has claimed responsibility for killing many hostages, including diplomats from Egypt and Algeria.
Meanwhile, to mark Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that concludes Ramadan, US officials freed 500 detainees from Abu Ghraib, the notorious prison on the outskirts of Baghdad.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies November 2, 2005)
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