Major General Mohammed Al-Askari, the ministry spokesman, said the men had confessed to working for Al-Qaeda and helped launch an attack that killed a dozen people at an army base last month and another at a security checkpoint in the capital’s Adhamiya district in July that killed three soldiers.
Insurgents have stepped up attacks on police and troops in recent months as the US military gradually pulls back more than seven years after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
In the Sept. 5 assault, up to six suicide bombers, some armed with rifles, tried to storm the Iraqi Rusafa army base, killing 12 people and wounding 36 less than a week after Washington declared US combat operations in Iraq over.
The assault began when a minibus packed with explosives was driven toward the rear gate of the base, followed by one or two suicide bombers on foot.
“My duty was to attack the military base after the first bomb, to open fire on security forces at the main gate,” Qais Al-Douri, 32, said in a recorded confession. “I received $2,500 after finishing the attack.”
In the July 29 assault in the Adhamiya district, a hand grenade was thrown at an army vehicle, killing three soldiers and setting the car ablaze.
“We have arrested terrorists responsible for attacking an Iraqi checkpoint and setting the bodies of Iraqi soldiers ablaze,” Askari said.
Military leaders say insurgents are trying to take advantage of a power vacuum following a March 7 election that produced no clear winner, raising concerns about a return to wider-scale bloodshed as US troops prepare to leave by end-2011.
Askari said militant attacks across Iraq declined 36 percent in September compared to the previous month.
