Iraq announced today it had broken up a "terror" ring linked to Iran and arrested two Iraqi "terrorists" who were shown on television "confessing" to having plotted to exploit an eventual US strike against the country.
Hamza Qassem Sabbat, alias Abu Haitham, and Ibrahim Abd Jassem Mohammad, alias Abu Ayyub, would divulge "the terrorist actions carried out by the agencies of the Iranian regime which are in tune with enemy goals against our country's security," a statement from the public security department said.
Iraq's security services managed to penetrate "the labyrinths of treason thanks to a well-studied security plan and to strike at terror and its perpetrators," said the statement, carried by the official INA news agency.
Iraqi state television, which aired hour-long "confessions" by the two men this evening, said Sabbat (40) hailed from Baghdad while Mohammad (43) hailed from the southern province of Basra.
The pair said they had received military training in Iran, where they "sought refuge" in the early 1980s, and joined Iranian troops to fight Iraq during the 1980-1988 war between the two countries, in addition to taking part in an uprising by Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War.
"Following the September 11th attacks in the United States, we were instructed to go to Iraq and prepare to exploit an American attack on the country," Sabbat said.
Mohammad for his part admitted to having had a hand in "rocket attacks against various locations in Baghdad and in operations using booby-trapped cars against some officials."
Iraqi state television also aired "confessions by the six criminals," in which they admitted having been "incited by terrorist circles in the Iranian regime to perpetrate criminal acts for the benefit of the US administration and the Zionist entity (Israel)."
AFP