BAGHDAD — The suicide bombers who blew up explosives-laden trucks outside government buildings in Baghdad may have been aided by members of Iraq's security forces, the foreign minister said Saturday, even as the government insisted Iraqi forces could still protect the nation.
Security lapses allowed the bombers to drive trucks past checkpoints and position them close to government targets that included the Foreign and Finance ministries. Wednesday's attacks killed at least 101 people and wounded more than 500.
The violence has shaken confidence in a government that has said it can take over responsibility for the country's security from American troops, who withdrew from Iraq's cities nearly two months ago.
"We have to face the truth. There has been an obvious deterioration in the security situation in the past two months," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters during a news conference at the damaged ministry building, which was opened Saturday to journalists and some ministry employees.
Zebari said the attacks were so well-planned and executed that he would not rule out the possible collaboration of members of Iraq's security forces with attackers.
"We will investigate that," he said.
Zebari said the ministry was investigating how the trucks carrying the bombs were allowed topass into areas where they are banned from traveling.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in his first televised speech to the nation since the attacks, cautioned against rushing to blame the security forces and undermining national unity.
"I would like to assure the Iraqi people that the security forces are still capable of continuing the battle and achieving more victories despite all the loopholes that took place here and there," he said in an address to mark the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.
Iraq's intelligence chief Mohammed al-Shahwani also was ousted Thursday and left for Amman, Jordan, after receiving a letter from the government saying it was time for him to retire, according to a former senior CIA officer with knowledge of the events.
Al-Shahwani has not been implicated in the bombings but actually warned that an attack was likely to occur on the sixth anniversary of the Aug. 19, 2003, bombing at the U.N.'s headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, the former CIA officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to be identified.
One of al-Maliki's advisers, who also declined to be identified because he wasn't authorized to release the information, confirmed that al-Shahwani had resigned, but the adviser refused to give details.
The Iraqi military announced it arrested members of an insurgentcell responsible for the attacks but gave no details about the suspects. Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief military spokesman in Baghdad, said on Iraqi state television only that both attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.
The prime minister said he would deal harshly with those responsible for the attacks as well as those whose negligence allowed them to take place. Eleven members of Iraq's security forces have been arrested on accusations of negligence, authorities said.
Al-Maliki blamed an alliance of al-Qaida and supporters of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, who he said aimed to disrupt unity before January's national elections.
Al-Maliki has ordered security tightened and concrete blast walls to remain around potential targets in the aftermath of the bombings, reversing an order earlier this month to remove the walls in Baghdad by mid-September.
A drive-by shooting at an Iraqi military checkpoint Saturday came in an area in Adhamiyah, in north Baghdad, where Iraqi security forces also have began dismantling concrete blast walls to open major roads, an Iraqi security official said.
In north Iraq, a bomb exploded inside the office of a Mosul district administrator, killing the district chief and two others, said an Iraqi police official.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Information for this article was contributed by Sameer N. Yacoub, Chelsea J. Carter and Hamid Ahmed of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 9 on 08/23/2009