Iraqis thwart plot to bomb ministries

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forces arrested suspected insurgents who allegedly planned to target government ministries and seized a large cache of explosives Tuesday, in a crackdown across the capital that brought parts of the city to a standstill.

The security measures demonstrated the ever-present fear that insurgents will carry out more bombings, like the ones against government buildings in past months that killed hundreds, ahead of the March elections.

The government’s announcement that it had arrested 25 suspects and seized 880 pounds of military-grade explosives also set off bitter accusations from some Sunni politicians that the government had exaggerated the incident to burnish its security credentials.

The charges laid bare once more the stark lack of trust in Iraq between the Shiite-dominated government and the Sunni Muslims who oppose the government.

Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the capital’s top military spokesman, said security forces had seized 440 pounds of TNT, 440 pounds of C4 explosive and 66 gallons of ammonium nitrate, an ingredient to make explosives. Twenty-five suspects who had been planning an attack that morning were arrested, he said.

Legislator Abdul Karim al-Samarraie, the deputy head of parliament’s security and defense committee, said the insurgents were planning to target government ministries although he did not have details on which ones.