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Authorities say Najaf bombers arrested, see Syrian hand

By: Ismail Zabeeh

HOLY NAJAF, Iraq: Adnan Az-Zurfi, Governor of Holy Najaf, said Saturday that authorities had arrested the insurgents responsible for last week's devastating suicide bombing in the holy city.

“We have arrested the people behind the bombing of Najaf… Their names and identities will be announced in Baghdad in a week,” Zurfi told Reuters declining to give further details.

Earlier on Saturday, Az-Zurfi visited Ayatullah Sayyed Ali As-Sistani. Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, he told them that he discussed with the Ayatullah several matters relating to the country as well as updates on the investigation of deadly bombings.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi police chief in Holy Najaf General Ghaleb Al-Jazairi accused the Syrian government Saturday of involvement in last weekend’s deadly bombing that left 54 people martyred in the pilgrimage city.

One of three suspects arrested in Najaf immediately after the attack “confessed that Syrian intelligence services had played a role in the blast”, on December 19 that wounded more than 140 people, said General Al-Jazairi. “He had lived in Syria where he began to work for the Syrian intelligence” at a camp for Iraqi refugees.

Police found him immediately after Sunday’s car bombing and a scarf stained with blood was found in his belongings, Jazairi added.

More than 50 people have been rounded up in Najaf in connection with the attack that coincided with a car bombing in the holy city of Karbala that martyred 16 people.

The twin bombings were widely denounced as an attempt to inflame sectarian conflict between Iraqis.

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