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Basra bombing death toll up
12/11/2003 07:10 - (SA)
Baghdad - An explosion on Tuesday on a road frequently used by British troops killed six civilians in the southern city of Basra, hospital officials said, and the top US commander in Iraq said the military had detained 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, a Kurdish guerrilla group that had battled the Turkish army for 15 years said it would it would dissolve itself.
In the southern city of Basra, a blast during the morning rush hour destroyed two cars. Soldiers immediately blocked off access to the site, and Iraqi police and hospital officials said a total of six civilians died in the blast.
In Baghdad, the coalition military commander, Ricardo Sanchez, said that the US military had arrested about 20 people who may have been linked to al-Qaeda but none had been confirmed as part of Osama bin Laden's terror network.
"At one point, we had up to about 20 suspected al-Qaeda members, but as we have continued to refine and interrogate, we have not been able to establish definitively that they were al-Qaeda members," Sanchez said.
US officials have said they suspect foreign volunteers, including some from al-Qaeda, have slipped across the borders into Iraq to take part in a "holy war" against the US-led occupation.
However, a number of US commanders have said they were uncertain about the numbers of foreign fighters and their role in the insurgency.
American commanders have speculated that they are facing attacks from Saddam supporters, religious extremists and foreign fighters.
US officials have said at least some of the attacks may have been orchestrated by Saddam's former deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who may have forged an alliance with the Kurdish religious extremist group Ansar al-Islam.
Ansar al-Islam is believed to have ties to al-Qaeda. It was unclear whether Sanchez was referring to Ansar fighters when he said the Americans were holding about 20 al-Qaeda suspects.
Sanchez also said that although attacks against his troops have increased, the insurgents know "that from a military point of view, they can't defeat us."
He defended the use of aerial bombing in Tikrit and Fallujah over the past five days, saying it was necessary to defeat those who attack coalition forces.
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