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Syria denies abetting Iraq militancy

Atul Aneja

Explosions kill 11; curfew clamped in Najaf

DUBAI: Syria has rejected the assertion that infiltrators from its territory have been responsible for half of the bombings that have rocked Iraq. "The comments made by [Iraqi Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh] are contrary to reality and aimed at harming relations between Iraq and Syria that Damascus wants to strengthen and develop," a Syrian official was quoted as saying.

The timing of Mr. Dabbagh's comments have apparently surprised the Syrians who restored their diplomatic relations with Iraq late last year, after a gap of 26 years.

Al-Qaeda role suspected

The Iraqi spokesman's observation followed Saturday's mega-explosion in a Shia market in Baghdad. At least 135 persons were killed in this blast — the worst ever bombing in Iraq since the Americans led an invasion of the country in 2003. The Al-Qaeda in Iraq is the chief suspect in the bombing, though Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pinned the blame for the explosions on the loyalists of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

There has been no let-up in the violence in Iraq. On Sunday, a series of roadside explosions killed at least 11 persons, including four policemen in Baghdad. These policemen died when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in the Al-Qasra district.

Four civilians were killed and another four wounded when a car bomb exploded near a bus station.

Sporadic gunfire could also be heard from the Green Zone, the high security area where the U.S. embassy and the Iraqi Parliament are located.

AFP, DPA report:

The Muslim Scholars Association, the largest Sunni authority in Iraq, deemed Saturday's explosion a ``terrorist operation'' that aims at dividing the different Islamic sects, and ``getting the occupation forces out of the equation.''

Meanwhile, police declared a night-time curfew in the central Shia holy city of Najaf on Sunday, and revered cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's office said it will bear the medical costs of the wounded from Saturday's blast.

Challenge to U.S.

The intensifying bombing campaign poses a major challenge to Iraqi and U.S. authorities as they fine-tune a make-or-break security plan to stabilise Baghdad by putting around 80,000 troops on the streets in a bid to halt the bloodshed.

The U.S. military said on Sunday that joint U.S. and Iraqi army soldiers had detained 24 terror suspects, following raids in villages surrounding Tuz, around 180 km north of Baghdad. The raids began on February 1.

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