Hospital chief questioned in Baghdad blasts
He may have aided insurgents in finding mentally disabled bombers, U.S. says.
BAGHDAD -- — The U.S. military said Wednesday it was holding the administrator of a psychiatric hospital on suspicion that he may have helped insurgents find mentally disabled women to carry bombs that devastated two Baghdad markets this month.
The Feb. 1 blasts, which Iraqi officials said killed 99 people, marked the worst violence to hit the capital since a buildup of U.S. troops was completed in June. The day after the attacks, U.S. and Iraqi officials showed photographs of the heads of two women, who they said had been used to unwittingly carry explosives that were detonated by remote control in the markets.
According to military officials, both women were mentally disabled and unaware of what they were doing.
At a news conference, Navy Rear Adm. Greg Smith said U.S. forces detained the man Sunday at the Rashad psychiatric hospital "in connection with the possible exploitation of mentally impaired women" by insurgents with the Al Qaeda in Iraq militant group.
Smith said the hospital administrator was being questioned to determine whether he had provided information to Al Qaeda in Iraq about patients at Rashad or other medical facilities.
He did not name the administrator, but a hospital worker and a spokesman for the Ministry of Health identified him as Sahi Abaoub Hermish Maliki. They, and Smith, said Maliki had worked at the hospital for only a couple of weeks.
The hospital worker and a Sadr City pharmacist who knows Maliki expressed surprise that he would be suspected of involvement in insurgent activity.
The pharmacist, Mohammed Ali Khadem, described Maliki as a popular doctor who had run a private clinic near Sadr City for more than 10 years.
"He has a calm personality, and throughout the years he has built a very good reputation for himself here in Sadr City," said Khadem, adding that Maliki was not known to be politically active.
Maliki was described as both a pediatrician and a psychiatrist by Iraqi health officials. His specialty remained unclear.
At the Rashad facility, the hospital worker, who asked not to be named, said U.S. forces had raided the Rashad institution about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, rifling through cabinets and offices and leaving about 4 p.m. with the doctor. U.S. forces had returned several times since then, he said. The employee estimated Maliki to be in his mid-50s.
