IRAQ

61 members of security forces arrested over double suicide bombing

More than 60 members of Iraq's security forces have been arrested in connection with a double suicide bombing at the weekend that killed 153 people, in one of the worst days of violence in Iraq in two years.

Issued on: 29/10/2009 - 11:02Modified: 29/10/2009 - 12:02

Text by: FRANCE 24 (with wires)

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Some 61 members of Iraq's security forces, including 11 officers, have been arrested over the twin bombings in Baghdad that killed 153 people, army spokesman General Qasim Atta told AFP on Thursday.

Those arrested were deployed in the Salhiya section of the capital where the devastating suicide blasts on Sunday targeted government buildings and wrought havoc in the streets, said Atta.

"The commission of inquiry into the double attack on Sunday ordered the arrest of 11 officers of various ranks and 50 members of the security forces responsible for the protection of Salhiya," he said.

The health ministry confirmed on Thursday that 153 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in the twin bombings at the weekend.

"The final toll is 153 people dead," ministry spokesman Sabah Abdullah said.

"It is difficult to know what proportion were men, women or children," he added, alluding to the terrible disfigurement wrought on the bodies of the dead by Sunday's vehicle bombings at the justice ministry and the Baghdad provincial governor's office.

An Al-Qaeda front organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attacks, the US-based SITE monitoring organisation reported, but the government blames members of the outlawed Baath party.