CAIRO, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - Iraq has sent additional units of interior troops to its border with Syria "to prevent terrorists from infiltrating the Iraqi territory," Al Jazeera television said on Saturday.
"The deployment has been carried out on direct orders from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki," Al Jazeera quoted Maj. Gen. Tariq Youssef, the police commander in western Iraq, as saying.
The general said some of the units had already reached their deployment areas while others were on the way to the border.
The Iraqi government has earlier accused Syria of harboring former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, who are suspected of planning and financing terrorist attacks on the foreign and finance ministries in Baghdad on August 19.
Almost simultaneous truck bombings and mortar attacks near the Green Zone in the Iraqi capital killed at least 95 and wounded over 560 people.
Following the attacks, Iraq demanded the extradition of two suspects, both former high-ranking members of the outlawed Baath Party, but Syria refused, calling the accusations ungrounded and demanding evidence of the suspects' involvement in the bombings.
The incident further strained relations between the two neighbors. Both countries have recalled their ambassadors.
Arab countries and Turkey are attempting to mediate the current dispute between the two countries, which is expected to be a key issue on the agenda of a meeting of the Arab League's foreign ministers in Cairo next week.
