Purported Syrian Confession Airs

BAGHDAD —  A man appeared on the U.S.-funded Iraqi state television station Wednesday saying he was a Syrian intelligence officer who helped train people to behead others and build car bombs to attack American and Iraqi troops.

“My name is Anas Ahmed al-Essa. I live in Halab. I am from Syria,” he said. “I am a lieutenant in ... Syrian intelligence.”

In a 15-minute confession broadcast by Al Iraqiya, the man said he was in a group recruited to “cause chaos in Iraq ... to bar America from reaching Syria.”

“We received all the instructions from Syrian intelligence,” the man said. Later, Al Iraqiya aired interviews with men it said were Sudanese and Egyptians trained in Syria to carry out attacks in Iraq.

Syrian officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the claims.