Friday, April 13, 2007
Three people held over parliament bombing
Security, Politics
Three cafeteria workers in Iraq's parliament have been detained following a suicide bombing in the building which killed one MP, a senior lawmaker said on Friday. Hasan Al Senaid, a lawmaker from the ruling Shiite Alliance bloc, said the three were being held for questioning but had not yet been charged. Some parliamentary guards were also being investigated but none were being held.
The original death toll from the blast was announced as eight deaths, but the US military revised the toll to one, although some reports say two MPs were killed in the attack. The bombing was the worst breach of security in the Green Zone, Baghdad's most secure area. The suicide bomber who blew himself up inside Iraq's parliament building was probably the bodyguard of a lawmaker, a senior security official at the national assembly said yesterday.
"There is a strong indication that the suicide bomber was a bodyguard of one of the lawmakers," the official said. He said three lawmakers, for example, are known to regularly refuse security checks inside the heavily guarded Green Zone where parliament sits. The official said police were also questioning the manager of the cafeteria, who was new on the job after being hired last month, as well as kitchen staff working at the cafe.
"There is a strong indication that the suicide bomber was a bodyguard of one of the lawmakers," the official said. He said three lawmakers, for example, are known to regularly refuse security checks inside the heavily guarded Green Zone where parliament sits. The official said police were also questioning the manager of the cafeteria, who was new on the job after being hired last month, as well as kitchen staff working at the cafe.
Iraqi authorities had intelligence that militants were planning an attack on parliament before a suicide bombing at the building, a senior government source said on Friday. "We had prior intelligence that there would be an attack on the parliament," the source told Reuters, without specifying when or how the information had been received.
Labels: Hasan Al Senaid, Iraqi parliament, suicide bomber
