Washington accuses al-Zarqawi of Karbala and Baghdad explosions

News reports quoted the commander of the American central leadership John Abizaid as saying that Washington owns clear intelligence information that show that there is a connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, suspected to have links with al-Qaida, and the explosions in Karbala and Baghdad.

Abizaid added that Washington has other information linking between al-Zarqawi and the former Iraqi intelligence.

In a statement sent to the London based al-Quds al-Arabi, al-Qaida said that what had happened in Baghdad and Karbala was part of what it called the American conspiracy to flare up sedition among Muslims in Iraq and distorting the image of what described by the statement as "Mujahideen." The statement threatened that groups of what is called Abu Hafas al-Masri of al-Qaida to continue attacking the American forces in Iraq and their collaborators including Sunni and Shiite.

The spokesman for the American occupation forces in Iraq Gen. Mark Kemet commented on al-Qaida statement which denied involvement in the explosions saying that al-Qaida ever sought to hold the Americans responsible. Kemet also considered al-Qaida statement as mere silly and nonsense, as he claimed.

Meantime, the Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zeibari accused what he called the extremists of being behind the bombardments in Baghdad and Karbala. He told journalists in Cairo that the main side behind encouraging sedition and sectarianism are the organizations linked to al-Qaida, noting that these sources have the great interests in spreading chaos and instability in Iraq.