Iraq Again Seeks International Bombing Probe

EDITH M. LEDERER

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iraq's foreign minister has reiterated his country's request for a high-level international envoy to investigate the extent of foreign involvement in recent bombings of government institutions.

In a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon circulated Friday, Hoshyar Zebari said the aim of the attacks on Aug. 19 and Oct. 25, which killed and injured hundreds of civilians, was "to paralyze the Iraqi state and its institutions and to abort the democratic political process under way in Iraq."

"These attacks should be investigated because they are a threat to international peace and security and because the security situation in Iraq, which is regarded as the forward battleground in the global war against terrorism, is of great concern to the international community," Zebari said.

Iraq has blamed an alliance between al-Qaida in Iraq and Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party for the pair of truck bombings on Aug. 19 outside the Foreign and Finance ministries in Baghdad that killed about 100 people. The Iraqi government wants Syria to hand over several suspects it says are based there.

Zebari said the pair of suicide car bombings on Oct. 25 "targeted government institutions in the same manner and at the same time of day as the terrorist attacks of Aug. 19."