Attack Against Iraqi Official Is Seen as an Inside Job
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
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.
