Al-Rubaie says most suicide bombers in Iraq travel via Syria
Sun Nov 13, 2005
CAIRO (Reuters) - Nearly all of the suicide bombers who have carried out attacks in Iraq have been Arabs who crossed into the country from Syria, Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said on Sunday.
Most of the suicide bombers were Saudi citizens, Rubaie added. U.S, British and Iraqi officials have demanded Syria do more to stem the flow of foreign fighters crossing its border into Iraq and close training camps on its soil.
"We do not have the least doubt that nine out of 10 of the suicide bombers who carry out suicide bombing operations among Iraqi citizens ... are Arabs who have crossed the border with Syria," Rubaie told journalists in Cairo.
"Most of those that blow themselves up in Iraq are Saudi nationals," he added.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that Syria wants a stable Iraq and does not support insurgents. He has also said he asked the U.S. for help in sealing the border but received none.
Saudi Arabia last week rejected criticisms that it had not done enough to fight terrorism and said the U.S. should do more to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, which gave "lifeblood to the evil cult of hate."
Rubaie said the fighters, who he said included Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Egyptians, Algerians and Saudis came to Iraq through Syria, and received logistical assistance and training inside the country.
"We want a political decision by the Syrian security agencies to stop the penetration of suicide bombers from Syria to Iraq ... It is very important that this decision is taken on the highest political level in Syria," he added.
U.S.-led forces last week concluded Operation Steel Curtain in western Iraq near the border with Syria, their latest offensive aimed at stopping the flow of foreign fighters along the Euphrates Valley stretching from the border to Baghdad.
U.S. and British officials have also accused Iran, Iraq's eastern neighbor, of interfering in events in Iraq and not doing enough to stop militants from entering Iraq to take up arms in the insurgency.
Jordanian officials said on Sunday that suicide bombers who killed more than 50 people in attacks on luxury hotels in Amman on Wednesday were all Iraqis.
The Jordanians said they have a woman suicide bomber in custody whose explosives-laden belt failed to detonate. She has been identified as Iraqi and related to a former lieutenant of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
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