Iraq now teeming with terrorists:
LONDON (Reuters) - Militants from across the Middle East are flooding Iraq, bent on causing mayhem and instability, Prime Minister Tony Blair says.
Blair's envoy to Iraq, Jeremy Greenstock, said further bloodshed would inevitably follow Tuesday's suicide bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad and Kerbala which killed 185 people.
He predicted British and U.S. troops would need to remain in Iraq for at least two more years to help establish stability.
"Terrorists, literally, from every extremist group around the Middle East are pouring into Iraq," Blair told parliament on Wednesday.
But not al Qaeda:
A letter purporting to come from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network denied any role in Tuesday's anti-Shiite Muslim explosions in Iraq and blamed the attacks on the United States.
The letter, signed by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades with "Al Qaeda" in parenthesis, was sent to the London-based al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.
It was obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
...
"We, and with God as our witness, say we are innocent of this act and of anything that will drive the Shiites away. Our mujahideen (holy warriors) love God and his prophet and will not do anything that will harm the Iraqi people."
They're still in Afghanistan.
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