JEDDAH/BAGHDAD, 25 October 2004 — Large numbers of Arabs with European passports have entered Iraq and are fighting on the side of the terrorists in the so-called “Death Triangle”, Iraq’s Minister of State for Security Qassem Dawood said yesterday.

The Iraqi official said terrorists from many countries were converging on Iraq to multiply attacks ahead of the US presidential election next week. Some have been captured and would be put on trial in Baghdad.

Speaking in a telephone interview, Dawood also confirmed that the man captured by the Americans in Fallujah on Friday was “a senior associate” of Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terror chief believed to be behind the worst atrocities in Iraq in recent months.

Dawood said he expected the terrorists and insurgent groups to step up their campaign of violence in a bid to influence the outcome of the American presidential election next week and to prevent the holding of elections in Iraq early next year.

The terrorists’ plan is to multiply attacks by the middle of the fasting month of Ramadan that has a special meaning for Shiite Muslims because it marks the martyrdom of Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam.

“It seems that many militant groups have asked their members to converge on Iraq for big fireworks,” Dawood said. “Among those we have arrested are Saudis, Syrians, Egyptians, Palestinians, Sudanese and Tunisians.”

He said many of those arrested carried European Union passports that seemed to be genuine.

The US-led coalition forces hold the captured terrorists for initial debriefing. But, they are expected to be handed over to the Iraqi authorities, and would be charged and tried under Iraqi law. The Iraqi official claimed “major successes against terrorist forces” but predicted no early end to violence.

“We have killed and captured many terrorists,” Dawood said. “But this thing could go on for some time yet. Militants from many countries now see Iraq as the major battleground between their ideology of terror and the forces of democracy in the Muslim world.”

Dawood said while the crackdown on terrorists would continue with “as much force as necessary” the interim government, led by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, was also pursuing its policy of “national reconciliation through negotiations.”

“That policy succeeded in the case of the followers of Moqtada Sadr who have now largely disarmed,” Dawood said. “That success was possible because we were dealing with Iraqi insurgents who, though they may be unhappy about the present situation, do not wish to destroy their country. The problem with other groups is that a majority of their members are foreigners who are prepared to burn the whole of Iraq to advance their mad ideology.”

Dawood identified the township of Fallujah, some 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, as the nerve-center of the terror campaign. He said a majority of the people of the town had left it on the advice of their religious and social leaders, and because they did not support the terrorists.

He said the negotiations between the interim government and a delegation from Fallujah, that had been postponed last week, resumed yesterday. The interim government was considering to extend its offer of cash for arms for an unspecified period as a show of good will to the people of Fallujah.

He accused sections of the Arab media of “dishonesty” in reporting the situation in Fallujah.

“They are creating the impression that the people of Fallujah support the terrorists,” Dawood said.

“This is a lie that must not be allowed to stick. The people of Fallujah are hostages to the terrorists. They are sending heartbreaking messages to the government to rescue them. And this is what we are trying to do.”

Dawood said the continued terror campaign was occulting Iraq’s efforts to rebuild its shattered economy.

“The terrorists know that the faster we rebuild Iraq the shorter will their lives be,” Dawood said. “This is why they are trying, by kidnapping and killing, to frighten the foreign technicians whom we need in the early stages of reconstruction.”

Dawood also said that Iraq was engaged in “substantive negotiations” with several neighboring countries to stop the flow of money and manpower to terrorists in the “death triangle”.

“We are telling our neighbors that fire in our house would not spare them,” Dawood said. “The terrorists who are trying to destroy Iraq are equally determined to destroy the countries that give them support.”