Leaders from across Iraq's sectarian divide pleaded for unity at a special session of parliament today, gathering under high security to condemn a suicide bombing that tore through the building the day before.
A senior government source said authorities had intelligence that militants were planning an attack on parliament before yesterday's bombing, which killed a member of parliament and wounded two dozen other people in the building's restaurant.
An al Qaeda-backed group, the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, claimed responsibility in a Web statement for the worst breach of security in Baghdad's most secure area - the Green Zone that also houses government offices and embassies.
Three workers in the cafe had been detained, a top lawmaker from the ruling Shia Alliance said. The Interior Ministry said it would not give details of the investigation.
"We had prior intelligence that there would be an attack on the parliament," the government source told Reuters, without giving specific details of when the information had been received or what the nature of the threat was.
Security was heavy today as parliament met. Vehicles and their drivers were thoroughly searched and mobile checkpoints set up. Police raided houses inside the sprawling compound.
The bombing came two months into a crackdown in Baghdad that US officials hope will give the government breathing space to pull Iraq back from the brink of civil war between majority Shia and once dominant minority Sunni Arabs.
Scores of lawmakers turned up for the session, including some of those wounded in the attack. Their feet crunched on broken glass littered through the building as they walked to the chamber. One female MP wore a neck brace.
"Whether we are in or out of the government and the political process, we have to find a solution to national reconciliation," Shia Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who survived an assassination attempt in February, told parliament.