| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| All but 9 of 24 Ashura Massacre suspects released |
| 2004-03-11 |
| EFL. All but nine of 24 suspects in last week’s deadly blasts targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims have been released, a top US military official said Tuesday. Those still in US custody are Arabic speakers believed to be Iraqis. However, five of the foreigners arrested who spoke either Farsi, the language of Iran, or Dari, which is common in Afghanistan, have been freed, according to Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, spokesman for the US military command in Baghdad. I myself have noted that if the LeJ members who spoke Dari were arrested after the attacks they might well be mistaken for Farsi-speakers. Interesting that we let them go. Five other suspects arrested near Karbala a few hours before the attacks were originally said to have been foreign fighters but are now believed to be Iraqis, Kimmitt said. That group, said to have been planning an attack on Shiite pilgrims, remains in US custody. Asked about progress in the investigation, being led by the FBI, Kimmitt reported little headway. "I know the interrogations are still going on," he said during a press briefing. "That’s what we have. We’re going to keep working on it at this point." In Najaf, two Iraqi men who surrendered last week to Iraqi police and were handed to the US military remain in custody, Kimmitt said. The pair were said to have confessed involvement in the Karbala bombing on behalf of al-Zarqawi’s network, said Iraqi police Maj. Mohammed Dayekh. Separately, Kimmitt reported that raids near Taji, north of Baghdad, captured a suspect in recent rocket attacks in Baghdad. Fourteen others were captured in the raids, which also turned up CD-ROMs with Osama bin Laden’s name on them. Kimmitt said interrogations had yet to reveal much about the detained men, who were thought to be Iraqi. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |