Content provided in partnership with

Ex-detainee tied to suicide attack

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 8, 2008 by Alissa J. Rubin New York Times News Service

BAGHDAD -- A former Kuwaiti detainee at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was one of the bombers in a string of deadly suicide attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last month, the American military said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, urged American and Iranian officials to return to talks about Iraqi security, but he said he understood that it was a difficult moment for reconciliation between the countries.

Most Popular Articles in News: The Ten Best Laptop bags; Tata plans cheapest-ever car for Indian market; GLOBALIZATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF THE THIRD WORLD; Corn is good for you; Corn is not only a tasty treat, but also a cereal that ...; THE 50 BEST STYLISH HANDBAGS TO CARRY; More »

Cmdr. Scott Rye, a spokesman for the American military, identified one of the Mosul bombers as Abdullah Salim Ali al-Ajmi, a Kuwaiti man who was originally detained in Afghanistan and spent three years at Guantanamo Bay before being released in 2005. "Al- Ajmi had returned to Kuwait following his release from Guantanamo Bay and traveled to Iraq via Syria," Rye said, adding that the man's family had confirmed his death.

Ajmi is one of several former Guantanamo detainees believed to have returned to combatant status, said another American military spokesman, Cmdr. Jeffrey D. Gordon. "Some have subsequently been killed in combat and participated in suicide bomber attacks," he said.

Rye said it was rare to find Kuwaiti foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq. "Although 90 percent of all suicide bombers in Iraq have been foreigners, historically, Kuwaitis have comprised less than 1 percent of foreign fighters in Iraq," he said.

The circumstances of the attack in which Ajmi was involved remained unclear, he said. There have been a number of suicide attacks in Mosul recently, and the city has become a center of activity for the insurgent group al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, American and Iraqi officials say.

In Baghdad, Zebari acknowledged in a news conference that recent tensions over Shiite militia activity in Iraq, which the United States has accused Iran of supporting, had made it difficult for American and Iranian officials to sit down together. But, he said, "We believe it is very important to bring both parties to the negotiating table to discuss Iraqi security issues."

"We can't currently make this happen with both countries trading accusations against each other," he said. The two countries held three rounds of talks but were unable to agree on a date for a fourth round "because of scheduling problems and a lack of enthusiasm," he said.

If the Iranians are organizing the training of Shiite militias as well as financing them and supplying them with weapons as the American military asserts, "This is unacceptable, of course," said Zebari, who said he had summoned Iran's ambassador to Iraq to the Foreign Ministry in the past two days for "a long conversation." But he underscored the point made by several Shiite members of parliament who recently visited Iran, that Iraq must have a working relationship with its eastern neighbor.

"Our destiny is that we live together," Zebari said. "We are neighbors. And no matter what the problems are we need to resolve them. The history of Iraq-Iran relations is not easy."

The American military announced Wednesday that a soldier was killed in Anbar province on Tuesday while on patrol.

Ex-detainee tied to suicide attack

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 8, 2008 by Alissa J. Rubin New York Times News Service

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Reference

Most Popular Articles in News

Most Popular Publications in News