Blair announces inquiry into Iraqi WMD
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair previously had resisted calls for an inquiry.
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair confirms an inquiry into intelligence that led to war with Iraq.
President Bush says he will appoint a commission to look into U.S. prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Critics question the independence of a presidential commission.
Dual suicide bombings target Kurdish political offices in Erbil, Iraq.
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(CNN) -- The British government said Tuesday it will conduct a probe into prewar intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons programs.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been under pressure to launch such an investigation. Britain is the chief U.S. ally in the war. The British announcement comes after President Bush signaled a U.S. inquiry on Monday. (Full story)
Former top U.S. weapons inspector David Kay told a Senate panel last week no weapons of mass destruction have been discovered in Iraq and said he didn't believe significant stockpiles of banned weapons would be found.
Blair previously had resisted calls for an inquiry.
Before the war, the British leader said Iraq was a "serious and current" threat and that it had continued to produce chemical and biological weapons.
"It is right that we have a look at the intelligence that we received and whether it is accurate or not," Blair said Tuesday in an appearance before the House of Commons Liaison Committee.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced details of the inquiry later Tuesday in the House of Commons. (Full story)
Straw said a committee would work closely with the U.S. inquiry and Iraq Survey Group -- the U.S. team hunting for banned weapons -- to look into the accuracy of the intelligence that led to war and report before Parliament's summer recess.
"The committee will submit final conclusions to the prime minister in a form for publication along with any classified recommendation and material," Straw said. "The government, of course, will fully cooperate with the committee."
Both Straw and Blair said that the decision to go to war was the right one even if weapons of mass destruction are not found.
Death toll rises in Erbil attacks
Near-simultaneous suicide bombings at the headquarters of two Kurdish political parties during the weekend have killed 107 people in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said Tuesday.
The attacks occurred at the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The death toll from the blasts is likely to rise further, said Mahmood Ali Uthman of the U.S.-appointed council. At least five senior Kurdish officials were among the dead, the U.S.-led coalition said.
The Coalition Provisional Authority said Monday that 67 people had died and 247 others were wounded.
The attacks took place Sunday morning at the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Democratic Party. The Kurdish region of northern Iraq has been largely autonomous since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The dual bombings are the deadliest attack since the United States declared the end of major combat in Iraq.
"We have no group that's claimed responsibility," Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor said, pointing out al Qaeda or Ansar al-Islam, a northern Iraq group with suspected al Qaeda ties, could be responsible.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said individuals carried the bombs. Most other suicide attacks in Iraq have involved explosives packed into vehicles.
Other developments
• A U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded Tuesday in an improvised explosive device attack near Iskandariyah, south of Baghdad, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The wounded soldier was taken to the hospital, the command said.
• U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that the world body will send a team to Iraq to help that country's political transition to sovereign rule. Annan said he hopes to break the impasse over elections before Iraq regains power June 30. The coalition supports caucus-style elections for a national transitional assembly, while Iraq's leading Shiite Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, backs direct elections.
• The Russian Foreign Ministry has denied a report alleging that oil companies, political parties and even the Russian Orthodox Church took bribes from Saddam before the war. An Iraqi newspaper reported the alleged bribes by the former Iraqi president came in the form of cash or oil-selling rights. (Full story)
