BAGHDAD — Attackers paid $10,000 to get a bomb-laden truck past checkpoints and next to the Finance Ministry last week, a suspected attack mastermind said in a confession broadcast Sunday.
Seeking to fend off widespread criticism over security lapses, the Iraqi military released what it said was the confession of a Sunni man it identified as the planner of one of the two suicide truck bombings targeting government buildings in Baghdad.
Lawmakers and other senior officials have traded blame and called for investigations into how the bombers were able to get explosives- packed trucks so close to government institutions.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief military spokesman for Baghdad, said the man was a senior member of former dictator Saddam Hussein’s ousted Baath Party who confessed to supervising the Finance Ministry attack before his lawyer and the chief prosecutor.
Wednesday’s bombings, which also hit the Foreign Ministry, battered Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s efforts to portray himself as a champion of security before January’s parliamentary elections. The government has been eager to control the investigation, announcing arrests but giving few details.
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said he was concerned by the attacks.
“The key is whether this is an indicator of future sectarian violence. And certainly, many of us believe that one way that this can come unwound is through sectarian violence,” he said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The message is that the Iraqi leadership really has to take control and ensure security in their country.”
