Iraqi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Sunni lawmaker accused of masterminding a series of high-profile attacks, including mortar strikes on the Green Zone and a 2007 suicide bombing inside the parliament building, a military official said Sunday.
The lawmaker, Mohammed al-Dayni, was implicated in confessions from two former bodyguards, who were detained last week, said Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi. Tapes of their interrogations, which were played at a news conference, contained claims that al-Dayni sanctioned attacks and raids that included killing gold merchants and looting their shops.
Al-Dayni, quoted by The Associated Press, rejected the charges as "untrue and baseless" and claimed he was targeted because of his "patriotic stances." "Before they accuse me, they should present evidence not baseless allegations," he said.
The bodyguards claim al-Dayni was behind a wave of attacks, including mortar strikes on the Green Zone and the April 2007 suicide blast inside the parliament cafeteria that killed eight people, including a Sunni lawmaker. One of the guards, Riadh Ibrahim Jassim Hussein al-Dayni, who is the lawmaker's nephew, told interrogators that he drove the bomber to a hotel inside the fortified Green Zone and the attacker entered parliament using al-Dayni's ID. The ex-bodyguard claimed the attacker was handed the explosives belt by someone working in the cafeteria.
