Attack Against Iraqi Official Is Seen as an Inside Job

BAGHDAD — The suicide attack against Iraq's Sunni deputy prime minister is now seen as an inside job carried out by a member of his own security detail — a distant relative who had been arrested as an insurgent, freed at the official's request, then hired as a bodyguard, a senior security official and an aide to the victim told the Associated Press yesterday.

A suicide attacker came within feet of Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zubaie and exploded his vest during a Friday prayer service in the private mosque attached to Mr. Zubaie's home. The Sunni official was seriously wounded, and nine people were killed.

The senior security official as well as a key aide to Mr. Zubaie said Wahab al-Saadi, the distant relative, was the only person at the prayer service who has not been accounted for.

Meanwhile, roadside bombs killed five American soldiers yesterday, including four in a single strike in a volatile province northeast of the capital, the military said.