Senior MP blames S. Arabia for unrests in Iraq

A senior Iraqi legislator took Saudi Arabia responsible for the escalation of unrests in his country, and said Riyadh seeks to intensify sectarian and religious strife among Iraq's people. "Saudi Arabia directly and indirectly plays a main role in the unrests in Iraq's holy cities through strengthening Takfiri groups," member of the Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Commission Hossein Ali told FNA on Tuesday. He reiterated that the Saudi officials seek to sow discord among different ethnic and religious groups in Iraq to foment unrests in holy cities. Ali pointed to the confessions of a number of Takfiri terrorist ringleaders, and said those who had been arrested by the Iraqi interior and defense ministries have confessed that they received financial aids and backup from Saudi Arabia. In relevant remarks on Sunday, a spokesman for the Shiite Sadr Movement stressed that the recent unrests and multiple bomb blasts in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala served as part of a broader plot hatched to spark sectarian strife in Iraq to justify a longer US military presence in the war-torn country. "These explosions are mainly aimed at intensifying differences and ethnic tension between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis to prepare the ground for extending the security deal and the US military mission in Iraq," Sheikh Saleh al-Obeidi told FNA. Multiple bomb blasts killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 113 others in Karbala, hosting the Shrine of the Shiite Muslims third Imam, on Sunday. Police said a bomb exploded outside the offices where passport and identity cards are issued. Officials said other blasts went off when emergency responders arrived. Karbala, a major Shiite holy city 80 km (50 miles) Southwest of the capital Baghdad, has been the scene of attacks in the last few years. A suicide bomber targeting pilgrims on their way to Karbala killed four people and wounded 17 others on Thursday.