BAGHDAD, 15 July 2005 — Suicide bombers struck twice near the entrance to the fortified Green Zone yesterday, a day after a devastating attack on Iraqi children that provoked outrage and even brought a denial of responsibility from Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Iraqi and US forces announced some rare successes in capturing one suicide bomber before he could detonate his explosive belt and the arrest of a key suspect in the kidnap-slaying of Egypt’s top envoy.
The coordinated attacks by a suicide car bomber and two men strapped with explosives occurred just seconds apart near a police station about 50 meters from the Green Zone, where the US Embassy and major Iraqi government offices are located. Moments after the car bomb exploded, two bombers approached the checkpoint on foot, and one of them detonated a vest packed with explosives. But the other bomber was wounded when Iraqi police opened fire, the US military said.
Police discovered his unexploded vest while evacuating him, the military added. Five policemen and three civilians were also injured by the blasts and gunfire, officials at Yarmouk Hospital said. An Internet statement in the name of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the authenticity could not be confirmed.
Would-be bombers are rarely captured before they can carry out their deadly attacks. There was no word on the failed bomber’s identity, but his arrest could yield valuable intelligence on the shadowy network of extremists — many of them believed to be foreigners linked to Al-Qaeda.
In another blow to the network, about 30 suspected Al-Qaeda members were arrested in the past week, including a key suspect in this month’s kidnap-slaying of Egyptian envoy Ihab Al-Sherif and attacks on senior diplomats, the US command said.
Khamis Abdul-Fahdawi, known as Abu Seba, was captured Saturday following operations in the Ramadi area west of Baghdad, the military said. Abu Seba was suspected in the “attacks against diplomats of Bahrain, Pakistan and the recent murder of Egyptian envoy” Al-Sherif, according to the US statement.
Another key suspect, Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Shadad, or Abu Abdul-Aziz, was arrested during a raid Sunday in Baghdad, the US statement said. It identified Abu Abdul-Aziz as the operations officer for Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi. Abu Abdul-Aziz was cooperating with coalition forces, according to the US command.
In an Internet statement yesterday, Al-Qaeda in Iraq acknowledged that Abu Abdul-Aziz had been captured but played down his importance to the group.
Al-Qaeda also denied any role in the Wednesday suicide car bombing that killed 27 people — including 18 children and an American soldier — in eastern Baghdad. The suicide bomber detonated his SUV as US troops were distributing candy and toys in the mostly Shiite neighborhood.
“We, the Al-Qaeda organization in Iraq, announce that we are not in the least responsible for the New Baghdad operation that took place Wednesday,” said the statement posted and signed by Abu Maysara Al-Iraqi, the Al-Qaeda spokesman. “Our sheikh, Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi ... is very keen not to attack the rank and file and he himself is the one who directly supervises, plans and directs all the operations,” the statement said.
