Iraq

Al Qaeda: We Bombed Baghdad

Group claims responsibility for killing 155.

In a statement posted on a militant website, an Iraqi al Qaeda umbrella group claimed responsibility for the double suicide bombing in Baghdad on Sunday that killed 155, including two dozen children leaving a daycare center. The group, which has vowed to undermine Iraq's already-fragile government before the planned January elections, also claimed to be responsible for a similar attack two months earlier that leveled the finance and foreign ministries and killed 132 people, injuring almost 500. Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, has accused al Qaeda of receiving backing from Ba'athists, and blamed Syria for facilitating the attacks by harboring former Saddam Hussein associates. After criticizing the Syrian government in August, the two countries recalled their ambassadors. Al-Maliki inspected the attacks on Sunday, vowing to find those responsible.