Iraq says TNT traces found in Sunni lawmaker's cars
Source: Reuters
By Mussab Al-Khairalla BAGHDAD, March 18 (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces found traces of explosives in vehicles recovered at the Baghdad home of a prominent Sunni Arab legislator and confiscated 65 Kalashnikov rifles, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Sunday. But Dhafir al-Aani, a lawmaker for the Accordance Front, the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, said Shi'ite death squads that had infiltrated the security forces had fabricated the charges and that six of his guards detained at the raid were tortured. Brigadier Qassim Moussawi told a news conference the raid on Aani's home in Baghdad's western district of Yarmouk took place on March 9 and that seven people were arrested. "Four of the cars had traces of TNT, a high explosive. The report of this investigation was not written by Iraqis," Moussawi said, hinting U.S.-led forces were behind the investigation. "The law must be implemented with anyone." Moussawi said six of those detained were released within 48 hours but one was kept in custody after he was found in possession of a sniper rifle. Moussawi didn't say if Aani, who spends a lot of time outside Iraq, was wanted for questioning. Speaking to Reuters by telephone, Aani, who was not in Iraq at the time of the raid, said the charges were politically motivated and defended his innocence. "These charges are not true. I go to the Green Zone in these vehicles and they never found any traces of explosives with all the sophisticated equipment and sniffer dogs there," he said, referring to the large citadel that houses government buildings as well as the U.S. embassy. Officials in the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have accused some politicians of the Sunni Arab minority of having links with the Sunni insurgency. Sunni politicians say the government's security forces are heavily infiltrated by Shi'ite death squads targeting Sunnis. The government's spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said the incident was under investigation and suggested that Aani could have his parliamentary immunity lifted. "Any lawmaker who is found to have violated the law will have his immunity lifted," Dabbagh told a news conference, without elaborating. Maliki launched on Feb. 14 a U.S.-backed security crackdown in Baghdad which has seen thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops flooding streets and searching homes. Maliki has vowed to pursue anybody who breaks the law, including officials and politicians across Iraq's sectarian divide.
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
