Iraq PM warns of al Qaeda attacks on other nations

BAGHDAD, June 28 (Reuters) Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said today the interrogation of al Qaeda operatives captured in Iraq showed the Sunni Islamist group was planning attacks in a number of countries, his office said.

Maliki made the comments in a speech to anti-terrorism officials in Baghdad, a statement from his office said.

''The prime minister .... warned of a widespread and dangerous plan by the terrorist al Qaeda organisation to target a number of countries which suffer religious and sectarian problems,'' the statement said, without naming any countries.

''The confessions by members of al Qaeda captured in Iraq uncovered a plan to cause panic and insecurity in those countries.'' The prime minister said al Qaeda ''was surrounded and facing killer blows'' in Iraq and trying to send its operatives to other ''easily penetrable countries to open battles there'', the statement added.

Al Qaeda has a strong foothold in Iraq and is accused by the United States of trying to tip the country into full-scale civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.

Tens of thousands of US and Iraqi troops are engaged in an offensive against the group, partly in an attempt to take down its car bomb networks.

US military officials say foreign militants, mainly from Arab countries, are the brains behind al Qaeda in Iraq.

Reuters CS RN2022