Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad Bolani told parliament on Monday that a suicide bomber who attacked the foreign ministry in August made a phone call to Syria before detonating his payload, an MP said.
"He told us that the security services found the SIM card of the bomber in the attack on the foreign ministry, and that the last number that appeared was a number in Syria," Shiite MP Abbas al-Bayati told AFP.
Bolani was speaking on the third day of a grilling by MPs over a spate of attacks including the twin truck bombings of the foreign and finance ministries on August 19 that killed more than 100 people.
The minister "gave detailed information on individuals and groups who committed the attacks of August and the identities of 13 people directly involved," said Bayati.
"They are all linked to Al-Qaeda and the Baath party," he said, referring to the terror network and party of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
"Parliament has requested the execution of 13 members of that cell," the MP added.
According to a judicial source, a judge has completed an investigation and 72 people will face trial over the incident, including 13 directly involved in organising the attacks.
Iraqi officials have already blamed individuals they say were backed by Syria and Saudi Arabia for other attacks, including coordinated bombings on Tuesday that killed 127 people in Baghdad.
On Sunday Bolani told the MPs 13 people arrested for the August bombings would be executed.
Referring to yet another set of coordinated attacks that targeted government buildings on October 25, he added: "We are continuing to work on the attacks against the ministry of justice and the Baghdad governorate offices."
Iraqi MPs have already quizzed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Defence Minister Abdel Qader Obeidi and other high-ranking security officials during the closed-door sessions of parliament.
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