Suspected car-bombing mastermind arrested in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An al-Qaida lieutenant in custody in Iraq has confessed to masterminding most of the car bombings in Baghdad, including the bloody 2003 assault on the U.N. headquarters in the capital, authorities said Monday.

Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, "confessed to building approximately 75 percent of the car bombs used in attacks in Baghdad" since the Iraq war began, according to the interim Iraqi prime minister's spokesman, Thaer al-Naqib.

Al-Jaaf was taken into custody Jan. 15 and confessed to 32 car bombings, a government statement said, including the bombing of the U.N. headquarters that killed the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 other people.

The suspect, a top lieutenant of al-Qaida's Iraq leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also built the car bomb used to attack a shrine in the Shiite holy city of Najaf that killed more than 85 people, including Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, in August 2003, the statement said.

It said he also assembled the car bomb used in May to assassinate Izzadine Saleem, then president of the Iraqi Governing Council.

Two other militants linked to al-Zarqawi's terror group also have been arrested. They included the chief of al-Zarqawi's propaganda operations and one of the group's weapons suppliers, the government statement said.

The government offered no evidence to support its claims, and the announcement followed a series of car bombings, kidnappings and assassinations of Iraqi security personnel, all of which have lowered public morale as the nation prepares for elections next weekend.

Since June 28, when the interim Iraqi government took power, there have been about 70 car bombings reported in or around Baghdad, according to an Associated Press tally. At least 372 people were killed and 1,038 were wounded.

Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has been promising to crush the insurgency and restore public order if he holds onto his job in the new government.

In the latest attack, a suicide bomber blew up a carload of explosives Monday outside the headquarters of Allawi's party, wounding at least 10 people in the latest blast claimed by al-Qaida in Iraq. The violence raised fresh fears about the safety of voters in Sunday's national elections, which Sunni Muslim insurgents have threatened to sabotage.

Al-Zarqawi has been trying to incite Sunni Arabs against the Shiite majority, playing on Sunni fears that the elections will spell the end of their privileged position in Iraq.

Monday's car bombing struck at a police checkpoint near the offices of Allawi's party, the Iraqi National Accord. Police said the guards opened fire moments before the blast, a thunderous explosion that reverberated throughout the city center.

Eight policemen and two civilians were wounded, according to Dr. Mudhar Abdul-Hussein of Yarmouk Hospital. It was the second suicide attack on the office this month.

In an Internet posting, al-Qaida in Iraq said the attack was carried out by "one of the young lions in the suicide regiment" against the "agent of the Jews and the Christians."