Al-Qaida-linked group claims Green Zone blast

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella insurgent organization that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed Friday it carried out the parliament suicide bombing in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a major security breach that left one Sunni legislator dead.

The Islamic State said in Internet postings that it had delayed claiming responsibility to allow its men to flee from investigators who have been rounding up and questioning parliament employees.

The U.S. military, which reported on Thursday that eight people were killed in the suicide bomb attack in the parliament dining hall, revised the toll sharply downward on Friday to one killed and 22 wounded. Iraqi officials said seven of the wounded were members of parliament.

“A knight from the state of Islam ... reached the heart of the Green Zone ... the temporary headquarters of the mice of the infidel parliament and blew himself up among a gathering of the infidel masters,” the Islamic State said in the statement posted on one Islamist Web site commonly used by insurgents.

The Site Institute, which tracks militant postings, said the claim by the Islamic State appeared authentic.

Also Friday, the military said that in two separate attacks Thursday, three American soldiers and two Iraqi translators were killed south of Baghdad. Eight soldiers were wounded.

Lawmakers condemn attack
Earlier Friday, Iraqi lawmakers expressed outrage and resolve in a rare session of parliament on the Muslim holy day.

A red and white bouquet sat in place of Mohammed Awad, a Sunni member of the moderate National Dialogue Front killed in Thursday’s attack on the parliament cafeteria. Lawmakers ambled up to the podium to denounce the bombing, including one man with his arm in a sling and a woman wearing a neck brace.

“The more they (terrorists) act, the more solid we become. When they take from us one martyr, we will offer more martyrs,” Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi said. “The more they target our unity, the stronger our unity becomes.”

But the turnout was low because of a weekly driving ban on the Muslim day of rest.

“Very few parliament members showed up because of the curfew,” said Mohammed Abu Bakr, head of the parliament’s media office. “Also the MPs’ turnout is very low today because most of them are visiting those who were wounded by the blast,” he said.

Some additional members filed into the parliament room and took their seats after the session was under way, but the room remained less than half full. The meeting began late, and adjourned after about 90 minutes.

3 reportedly held for questioning
Meantime, three cafeteria workers in Iraq’s parliament were detained for questioning, a senior lawmaker said Friday.

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Hasan al-Senaid, from the ruling Shiite Alliance bloc, said some parliamentary guards were also being investigated but none were being held.

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“The investigations are ongoing inside the parliament. So far three workers from the cafeteria have been detained,” Senaid told reporters outside the building, adding that no charges had been filed against the three.

Separately, security officials at parliament, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said they believed the bomber was a bodyguard of a Sunni lawmaker who was not among the casualties.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said the attack bore the trademarks of al-Qaida in Iraq.

“We don’t know at this point who it was. We do know in the past that suicide vests have been used predominantly by al-Qaida,” he said before the claim of responsibility was issued.

Cleanup yet to begin
The parliament chamber bore no signs of damage, but cleanup had yet to begin elsewhere in the building, where investigators were still combing through the debris for clues as to who was behind the attack and how they penetrated the tightest security in Baghdad — the heavily fortified Green Zone compound, which houses the U.S. Embassy as well as offices of the Iraqi government.

“The cafeteria is still not clean. There is still flesh of the bomber on the floor,” Abu Bakr said. “Broken glass has not been removed, and a meeting hall is still full of dust.”

Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani opened Friday’s session by asking members of recite verses from the Quran to mourn the death of a “hero, the parliament member Mohammed Awad.”

The meeting was “a clear message to all the terrorists and all those who dare try to stop this (political) process, that we will sacrifice in order for it to continue,” al-Mashhadani said.

“We feel today that we are stronger than yesterday,” he said. “The parliament, government and the people are all the same — they are all in the same ship which, if it sinks, will make everyone sink.”