BAGHDAD - An al Qaeda front group claimed responsibility Tuesday for last week's suicide truck bombings that tore through government ministries in Baghdad, while Iraq recalled its ambassador from Syria and demanded that Damascus hand over two suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists it has linked to the attacks.
The Iraqi government has blamed an alliance between al Qaeda and former members of Saddam's ousted Baath Party and aired a televised confession of a suspected planner who claimed that two operatives in Syria had ordered the attacks.
One of the chief investigators of the Aug. 19 attacks, which killed more than 100 people, said the Iraqis believe the planner and the financier were Baathists based in Syria. One of the bombers was an al Qaeda operative and the other was a Baathist, he said.
The investigator, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said the al Qaeda statement claiming responsibility was probably an effort to divert attention from the Baathist link.
Such links are politically explosive, particularly before January elections in Iraq.
The question of what to do with Saddam-era officials in the civil service, army and police has been at the heart of the Sunni-Shiite divide since the overthrow of Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime in 2003 and has been a major hurdle to national reconciliation efforts.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Iraqi ambassador to Syria has been recalled to Baghdad. He said the Iraqi government has demanded that Syria turn over two purported Iraqi Baathists identified as Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed and Satam Farhan, whom Iraq has linked to the attacks.
Syria, in turn, recalled its ambassador to Iraq. Its Foreign Ministry said that unless the Iraqi government provided evidence, Syria would consider the claims to be fabricated "for political goals."
The Cabinet also has asked that steps be taken to form an international criminal court to try war criminals who planned attacks against Iraqi civilians, al-Dabbagh said.
"The Iraqi Cabinet also demanded that the Syrian government push out all terrorist organizations using Syria as a base to launch terrorist operations against the Iraqis," al-Dabbagh said in a statement after a Cabinet meeting.
The bombings occurred a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and called on Damascus to hand over people suspected of Sunni insurgent links and to stop fighters from crossing the border into northern Iraq.
Al-Maliki has been eager to show the government has control of the investigation. He has come under heavy criticism for the bombings, which raised concern over how Iraqi security forces allowed the bombers to get so close to key government institutions.
The attacks occurred less than two months after most U.S. forces pulled back from urban areas, turning over security in Baghdad and other cities to the Iraqis.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group led by al Qaeda, said in an Internet statement that "with God's grace," their "sons launched a new blessed attack at the heart of wounded Baghdad."
It added that the attacks against the finance, foreign and defence ministries were meant to "wreck the bastions of infidelity" that belong to what it described as al-Maliki's pro-Iranian government.
The U.S. military has said the blasts bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq, which is known for its massive vehicle bombings and suicide attacks.
The al Qaeda statement said it sought to kill government officials. The explosions "shook the earth under their feet and tore apart their hearts of fear and horror, proving to everyone the weakness of their government."
Al Qaeda signature attacks until now have mostly seemed designed to fuel sectarian tensions and push the country back to the Sunni-Shiite violence of 2006 and 2007 that nearly led to civil war.
Wednesday's bombings differed because they hit symbols of state authority and appeared aimed at having a far-reaching political impact, further undermining the government and casting more doubt on the ability of Iraqi security forces after the departure of U.S. forces from major cities on June 30.
Allegations linking Saddam loyalists to explosions are not new. Hard-line Shiite politicians have been increasingly mentioning the Baathists as partners with al Qaeda. However, a branch of the Baath party, now based in Syria, issued a statement denouncing the attacks.
The purported operatives in Syria were identified as ordering the bombings in a televised confession by a detained Sunni man the government said was the suspected mastermind of the bombing against the Finance Ministry.
The 57-year-old suspect identified himself as Wisam Ali Khazim Ibrahim and said he was a Baath Party member and former police officer from the Diyala province city of Muqdadiyah, north of Baghdad.
The attackers paid US$10,000 to a facilitator who knew the Iraqi security forces manning the checkpoints on the roads from Muqdadiyah to the Finance Ministry, Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim said the operation was ordered a month ago by al-Ahmed and Farhan in Syria in a bid "to destabilize the regime."
The Iraqi government has promised to broadcast more confessions in coming days.
