US warning of Baghdad blasts 'too late'

Published on Sunday 13 December 2009 21:52

IRAQ'S security chiefs said yesterday that the US military had warned them in advance about an imminent attack, but the tip came too late to act on before last week's deadly Baghdad bombings against government sites.

An official said 13 al-Qaeda-linked suspects have been detained in connection with the bombings, the third of their kind since August. At least 127 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in the attack.

The disclosure of the US tip and the announcement on the arrests came on the third day of a grilling by Iraq's parliament of government officials on the security breaches that allowed Tuesday's attacks to take place in some of the most heavily protected sections of the Iraqi capital.

News of the arrests followed the announcement by the former top military commander for Baghdad that an unspecified number of street level security officials have been detained for alleged negligence.