Iraq Denies Ties with al-Qaeda Suspect

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, February 07, 2003

Iraq Denies Ties with al-Qaeda Suspect

Iraq on Thursday said it has no connection with an al-Qaeda suspect, as alleged by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in his presentation to the UN Security Council.

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Iraq on Thursday said it has no connection with an al-Qaeda suspect, as alleged by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in his presentation to the UN Security Council.

Iraq does not know the whereabouts of Abu Musad Zarqawi, said Saeed al-Mousawi, head of the International Organizations Office ofthe Iraqi Foreign Ministry, at a press conference here.

Some extremists of the Anssar Al-Islam (supporters of Islam) are still occupying a small area in northern Iraq, which is out of control of the Iraqi central government, Mousawi said, adding that this group was responsible for some terrorist attacks in Baghdad.

Their presence in Iraq was part of abnormal situation in northern Iraq, which has been created by the United States and Britain, al-Mousawi told reporters in response to Powell's presentation at the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Iraq has offered cooperation with the US authorities to hand over one person accused of involvement in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, but the United States has refused to cooperate with Iraq, he added.

Al-Mousawi also accused the United States of violating the humanrights in Iraq by imposing and prolonging the embargo against the Iraqi people, saying the 12-year-old embargo left 1.8 million people dead.

Meanwhile, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's science adviser Amiral-Saadi dismissed Powell's evidence against Baghdad as unreliable.

Powell used the information from "their own sources and Iraqi defectors to claim that Iraq had 18 mobile labs on wheeled trucks, that was "baseless", he said.

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