Bomb smuggled into Baghdad works ministry may have been inside job

Police probing how a bomb was smuggled into a Baghdad ministry in a bid to kill Iraq's Shiite vice president believe the attack was carried out by an insider, a security official said yesterday.

"Thirty-five employees of the public works ministry are now under interrogation by the interior ministry about how the bomb was brought into the building," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Most of them are bodyguards and ministry security men," he said, adding that those wounded in the explosion will be questioned once they recover.

Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi escaped with little more than a few scratches when a bomb exploded Monday next to a room in the ministry where he was attending a function, but five people were killed.

State television described Monday's bombing as an assassination attempt while the security official said it appeared that high explosive was used.

"Employees were told a day before that the vice president was going to attend the ceremony. So the person who planted the bomb was already aware that he was going to be present," the security official said.

"They started preventing visitors from entering the ministry a day earlier, so the criminal must be from inside. Early investigations indicate that an employee ... smuggled TNT into the building," he said.

Violence flared yesterday in the town of Al-Wahda, southeast of Baghdad, when three brothers were among five people killed by a roadside bomb, police said.

The five were in a car heading to the Iraqi capital from Al-Wahda, about 40km away, when their vehicle was hit by the bomb, police official Mohsen Mohammed said.

Yesterday, the country was buoyed by news that the Cabinet had given its long-awaited nod to a draft oil law.

The law, which will now be submitted to parliament for approval, aims to distribute revenues from crude oil exports equitably across all 18 provinces and open the sector to foreign investors.

"This law has been based on our national interest. It will encourage the bringing together of all component parts of the Iraqi people," Maliki told a news conference after the Cabinet gave its approval late on Monday.

Oil exports are Iraq's single most important source of revenue.

"This law is one of the most important achievements in Iraq since the voting of the Constitution," Planning Minister Ali Baban said.

"There was clear participation of all political movements in this law, which will boost national unity. This law will create a single oil revenue stream for all Iraqis," he said.