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Iraqi Security Adviser Blames Church Attacks On Al-Zarqawi


2 August 2004 -- Iraq's national security adviser said today that Jordanian militant Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi appears to have been responsible for the bombings yesterday of five churches in Iraq that killed at least 10 people.

Muwaffaq al-Rubay'i told Reuters that "there is no shadow of a doubt" that the attacks were conducted by al-Zarqawi, who the United States alleges is linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Al-Rubay'i gave no details but said the attacks were an apparent attempt to divide Iraq's Muslim and minority Christian communities.

The U.S. military today said 10 people were killed and more than 40 others were injured in the blasts at four Christian churches in Baghdad. The military statement gave no details about a fifth blast at a church in Mosul, 370 kilometers north of the capital.

Rescue workers in Iraq today are searching for victims in the wake of the blasts.

The blasts were the first major assault on Iraq's Christian minority since President Saddam Hussein was ousted by U.S. troops in April 2003.

(Reuters/AFP/AP/dpa)

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