Iraq: defense minister slams Syria for exporting terror

Iraq's defense minister slammed Syria on Saturday for letting militants train on its soil for attacks in Iraq and warned that Arab capitals won't be saved if the "Iraqi volcano explodes."

Saadoun al-Dulaimi's visit to Jordan follows Wednesday's triple hotel suicide bombings in this kingdom's capital, Amman, by the al-Qaida in Iraq terror group, which killed 57 people.

"We have more than 450 detainees who came from different Arab and Muslim countries to train in Syria and enter with their booby-trapped vehicles into Iraq to bring destruction and killings," al-Dulaimi said after meeting Jordan's prime minister in Amman.

"Let me tell the Syrians that if the Iraqi volcano explodes no neighboring capital will be saved," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.

The Iraqi minister demanded more anti-terror support from Damascus, which is facing intense pressure from the United States and Iraq to lockdown its borders and stop al-Qaida in Iraq-linked extremists allied to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi entering the country.

"Iraq is bordering several countries, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, but why is it only the Syrian borders that I have complained more than once about?" al-Dulaimi said.

"We have a 620 kilometer (385 mile) border with this country and we have 620 problems with the Syrians," he said. "It seems our brothers in Syria won't like what we say in this critical period for the Syrians", reported AP.