Iraq broadcasts confessions by al Qaeda insurgents

Two men arrested in Iraq over suicide bomb attacks on embassies and a foreign television office were shown on state TV on Sunday confessing that they worked for al Qaeda. The confessions, broadcast widely on several local channels, were aired at a time when Iraqi forces are under pressure to demonstrate their ability to fight insurgents as U.S. troops prepare for a complete withdrawal from Iraq by end-2011. One man, Sinan Abid, 29, said he was personally involved in preparing suicide bomb attacks on the Iranian, Egyptian and German embassies in April in which at least 41 people died. "My role was to link up the electrical circuit in the car after planting explosives, and then briefing the suicide bomber on how to blow up the car when he reached the target," he said. The other man, Abdulla Salih, 34, said he helped prepare explosives for a July suicide bomb attack on the Baghdad office of Arabiya TV channel in which at least four people were killed. "I work for al Qaeda the Islamic State of Iraq, in the bomb-making division," said Salih, looking straight into the camera. "We planted explosives in a minivan to target Arabiya TV and the process took us two days."