Zebari calls for U.N. help with Aug. 19

BAGHDAD, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the United Nations should appoint a special envoy to examine any Syrian role in a series of deadly Aug. 19 attacks.

A string of coordinated attacks rocked the Iraqi capital Aug. 19, killing more than 100 people and injuring thousands in what is known among Iraqis as Bloody Wednesday.

Iraqi officials came forward almost immediately with claims that Baath Party supporters in Syria had coordinated the attack. Syria denied responsibility, though the attacks caused deep fissures in bilateral ties.

Zebari said negotiations with Syria have gone nowhere and he is now waiting for the United Nations to form an investigative team to examine foreign interference in the country, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Al-Qaida issued its own claim of responsibility for the attacks. While U.S. and Iraqi officials debate the extent to which al-Qaida would cooperate with Baath loyalists, the report said the Iraq branch of al-Qaida might have supplied the attackers in a Baath coordinated plan.

Farhan Haq, a U.N. spokesman, said the world body was "looking into how best to respond" to Iraq's requests.