BAGHDAD, July 7 (UPI) -- Iraq's Interior minister said a "terrorist cell" of eight officers, who planned to bomb the ministry building, has been uncovered at the ministry. Baker Jaber Solagh told a news conference in Baghdad Thursday that the cell conspired with the terrorist group led by Abu Musab Zarqawi to assassinate dozens of senior ministry officials and to bomb the Interior Ministry building. He said it comprised eight officers, including three colonels and a captain, in the internal security forces.
Additional: Iraqi security forces have foiled a plot by senior police officers to bomb the Interior Ministry. Interior Minister Bayan Solagh says that the police officers were linked to Al Qaeda. "We arrested over the past few days a secret military network comprising eight senior police officers and other policemen from the 2nd Brigade who were linked to the so-called Zarqawi group," he said. The 2nd Brigade is responsible for the police car pool. | Interesting, that may explain how car bombers get past security into police stations, they're driving official cop cars from the motor pool. |
"The network intended to assassinate top officers and completely destroy the Interior Ministry," he said. He refused to give further details.
"The officers were recruited a year ago and were in their jobs before I took over," the Minister, who was appointed in May, said. Mr Solagh is a member of the Unified Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite-backed group which has called for purging the Interior Ministry of former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party. |