'Suspected Baghdad bomber is Yemeni with Syrian passport
AFP, Baghdad
The suspected bomber thwarted in Monday's suicide bombing rampage in Baghdad was a Yemeni holding a Syrian passport, Iraqi interim Health Minister Khodair Abbas said yesterday. "According to the initial investigation results, the detained bomber is a Yemeni holding a Syrian passport," Abbas said. "The suspect did not want to give any information on the other two passengers in his car who managed to escape, nor the identity of the other bombers in the attacks," he said. "There is a real possibility the bombers were fundamentalist, Wahhabists," he said, referring to a puritanical strain of Sunni Islam favoured by Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. A US military spokesperson said the man was apprehended Monday when he attempted to drive an explosives-packed car towards a police station in the capital's Al-Jadida area. He fled on foot when his car came under fire and then fell down and shouted "wait, I am Syrian," the spokesman said. A Syrian passport was later found on him, the spokesman said. Monday's attacks on the offices of the Red Cross and four police stations left 43 dead and more than 200 wounded, according to hospitals contacted by AFP.
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