BAGHDAD — Iraq's prime minister on Wednesday stepped up pressure on Syria to hand over two suspects wanted in recent suicide attacks on government ministries in Baghdad.
The rising tension between Iraq and Syria, which led both countries to recall their ambassadors Tuesday, comes a week after blasts tore through the foreign, finance and defense ministries, killing more than 100 people.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has tied his political success to the general improvement in Iraq's security over the past two years, has focused on demands that Syria hand over two suspected members of Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath Party whom the government has linked to the attacks, along with al-Qaida-in-Iraq.
"We must declare war against those who are carrying out a political agenda and affiliated with foreign countries, despite the fact that we do not want to suspend our ties with these countries," al-Maliki said during a meeting with Shiite and Sunni tribal leaders.
The Aug. 19 attacks on the government ministries came only a day after al-Maliki visited Syria to press President Bashar Assad to hand over people suspected of links to insurgent attacks in his country and to stop fighters from crossing its border into northern Iraq.
Although that visit was meant to reinforce ties, diplomatic relations quickly deteriorated after the attacks. Iraq's deputy foreign minister, Labid Abbawi, summoned the most senior remaining Syrian diplomat in Baghdad, Bassam Haj Hassan, on Wednesday to explain why the government wanted the suspects handed over.
Hassan asked Abbawi to send a delegation to Damascus to present evidence to support the claims. Syria has said that without evidence, it would consider the allegations to be fabricated "for political goals."
The U.S. and Iraq have sought to shut down Sunni extremist networks smuggling weapons and fighters across Syria's border into Iraq's northern desert. The networks are fueling attacks in Mosul, north of Baghdad, where al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgents remain active.
American commanders have said there has been a decline in the number of foreign fighters crossing from Syria into Iraq, citing political pressure and beefedup security along the border.
But al-Maliki said Wednesday that militants receiving foreign and domestic support continue to pose a threat to Iraq by attempting to reignite sectarian warfare.
An al-Qaida-in-Iraq front group has claimed responsibility for the ministry bombings, but the Iraqi government says Baathist operatives planned and financed the attacks and aired a televised confession from a man who identified the Iraqis in Syria.
The question of what to do with Saddam-era officials in the civil service, army and police has been at the heart of the Sunni-Shiite divide since the overthrow of Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime in 2003 and has been a major hurdle to national reconciliation efforts.
In a separate development Wednesday, Iraqis mourned the death of a revered Shiite leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who died after being hospitalized in critical condition in Tehran, Iran, where he was being treated for lung cancer.
For many in Iraq's Shiite majority, al-Hakim was a symbol of their community's victory and seizure of power after decades of oppression under Saddam's Sunniled regime. His family led a Shiite rebel group against Saddam's rule from their exile in Iran, where he lived for 20 years, building close ties with Iranian leaders.
After Saddam's 2003 fall, al-Hakim hewed close to the Americans even while maintaining his alliance with Tehran, judging that the U.S. military was key to the Shiite rise.
The top two U.S. officials in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno and Ambassador Christopher Hill, offered condolences in a joint statement, praising al-Hakim for "contributing to the building of a new Iraq."Information for this article was contributed by Sameer N. Yacoub, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Hamza Hendawi, Sinan Salaheddin and Hamid Ahmed of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 08/27/2009