Bomb plot revealed, Iraq says

Associated Press

BAGHDAD

Iraqi authorities have obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim al-Qaida is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season, two senior officials said Wednesday.

A senior U.S. intelligence official confirmed the threat as credible.

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told The Associated Press that the botched bombing in Stockholm last weekend was among the alleged plots the insurgents revealed.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, in a telephone interview from New York, called the claims “a critical threat.”

Both al-Bolani and Zebari said Iraq has informed Interpol of the alleged plots, and alerted authorities in the U.S. and European countries of the possible danger.

Neither official specified which country or countries in Europe are alleged targets.

There was no way to verify the insurgents’ claims.

Al-Bolani said several insurgents claimed to be part of a cell that took its orders directly from al-Qaida’s central leadership.