BAGHDAD - The US military said on Thursday that Iraqi security forces have arrested 13 policemen over the bombing of a Shia shrine in the town of Samarra, which Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki blamed on guards at the site. ‘Immediately following the attack, Brigadier General Duraid Ali Ahmed Mohammad Azzawi, deputy commander for the National Police in Samarra, arrested the emergency service unit commander and 12 policemen responsible for security at the time of the attack,’ the military said in a statement.Wednesday’s bombing at the Al Askari mosque followed an attack by Al Qaeda militants in February 2006 that destroyed its golden dome and touched off a wave of sectarian killings that has left tens of thousands of people dead. ‘The guards present there had a role in this attack and they will be punished,’ Maliki told reporters during a visit to Samarra on Wednesday that was broadcast by Al Iraqiya television on Thursday.
‘Anyone who is involved or participated or played any role in this brutal crime will be punished,’ he said. ‘In two days we were to sign a contract to reconstruct the shrine, but this cowardly action was carried out though it will not deter us from rebuilding,’ Maliki said.
Iraqi security forces, including the specialised Facility Protection Service (FPS) guards, have been deployed around the shrine since it was first attacked. On Wednesday, suspected Al Qaeda militants bombed the two minarets of the shrine in the town that lies northwest of Baghdad.