Damascus denies Iraqi accusations, explosions renewed in Najaf
Iraq-Syria, Politics, 12/27/2004

For the second time within one week the Najaf area has witnessed a booby trapped car explosion. This, however, coincided with Iraqi accusations to Damascus of being involved in these attacks.

Five Iraqis were killed in a car explosion in Khan al-Nuss town on the road between Najaf and Karbala that targeted one American vehicle.

Damascus strongly denied the accusations of the city's police commander lt. gen. Ghaleb al-Jaza'eri of being behind the explosions in al-Najaf last week which resulted in killing 52 persons.

News reports in Damascus quoted a well-informed source at the foreign ministry as saying that the accusation is deplored and irresponsible and deserve not to be commented on.

The chief editor of al-Baath newspaper Elias Murad said these accusations fall in the course of a campaign against Syria started in Washington and are in harmony with certain voices in Iraq.

Al-Jazaeiri stressed that one Iraqi was detained after al- Najaf explosion admitted that the Syrian intelligence played a role in the explosions and that he received training in camps in Syria, supervised by qualified army officers.

Meantime, in Baghdad unidentified gunmen assassinated one colonel in the Iraqi police in an attack that targeted his car in al-Baya quarters that resulted also in injuring his personal guard.

The number of persons killed in a truck explosion in al-Mansour quarters on Friday evening increased to nine after new bodies were taken from under the ruins of a house destroyed by the huge explosion.

In Um Qaser to the south of Iraq, an unidentified group kidnapped the owner of a Turkish ship and other three from its crew while anchoring in the port of the city. The Turkish foreign ministry said that the kidnappers asked for $ 25 million to release the four Turks who were on a sea trip from Iran to Iraq.

News reports indicated that the owner of the ship Qaraman Sadeq Oghlo, is one of the prominent businessmen and he presides over one of the major ship companies, which takes Istanbul as a headquarters. Oghlo appeared in a video tape with the captain of the ship beside him, stressing he works for a project for the US and the Iraqi government to float drowned ships in Um al-Qaser port.

On the other hand the American army announced on Saturday that it arrested since a while in al-Ramadi, to the west of Baghdad, two Iraqis presumed to be members of al-Jihad Qaida In Mesopotamia, led by the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

A statement by the American army said that Saleh Khalil al-Mahlawi; known as Abu Obeida was arrested on December 8th while Basel Muhammad Hazem known as Abu al-Khattab was arrested four days later.

Previous Stories:
  Eight killed in Baghdad, Rumsfeld sends new forces   (12/25/2004)
  Member of the Muslim Scholars Commission killed in Iraq   (12/25/2004)
  Iraq ambassador to Damascus denied knowing of pictures to resistance men with Syrian officials   (12/24/2004)
  Continued attacks in Iraq   (12/23/2004)
  Abdul Aziz al-Hakim news conference in Damascus   (12/14/2004)
  Al-Jaafari look forward to Syria's continued support to Iraq   (12/8/2004)

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