An explosion on Tuesday on a road frequently used by British troops killed six civilians in the southern city of Basra in Iraq, hospital officials said, and the top United States commander in Iraq said the military had detained about 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 on a road frequently used by British troops, witnesses said. 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, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, told reporters that the US military had arrested about 20 people who may be 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.
Sanchez did not say where they were held, when they were detained or whether any of them have been released.
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. Sanchez said ”hundreds” of foreigners cross the border area to carry out attacks here.
”We’re seeing Yemenis, we’re seeing Sudanese, we’re seeing Syrians and Egyptians, to name a few,” Sanchez said.
Asked how close US forces had been to capturing Saddam Hussein, Sanchez replied only: ”Not close enough.”
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.
Meanwhile, an explosion occurred on Tuesday afternoon as US soldiers were escorting 16 Iraqi prisoners from jail to the appellate court in the Waziriyah district. Two Iraqi policemen and two prisoners were injured, police Sergeant Ali Manhal said.
Elsewhere, about 200 Shiite Muslims rallied briefly on Tuesday in the eastern Baghdad neighbourhood Sadr City to protest the shooting death of the chairperson of the US-appointed municipal council, Muhanad al-Kaadi, who was shot dead during an altercation with US military guards.
The protest broke up when soldiers ordered the crowd to disperse, one of the participants, Ali Mohammed, said.
The US military said al-Kaadi was fatally wounded on Sunday after he got into an argument with a soldier guarding the council headquarters. The statement blamed the incident on al-Kaadi’s ”refusal to follow instructions of the onsite security officer who was enforcing” regulations ”in accordance with the rules of engagement”.
Al-Kaadi, who spoke fluent English, had been trying to improve relations between the Americans and residents of the impoverished community.
Also in Baghdad, the Kurdish rebel group known as the Congress for Freedom and Democracy in Kurdistan, or Kadek, said it was planning to form a new group that would likely be pan-Kurdish and would pursue Kurdish rights through negotiations.
”Kadek is being dissolved in order to make way for a new, more democratic organisational structure that allows for broader participation,” the group said in a statement.
The group was originally called the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), but changed its name last year and announced a shift in strategy saying it would peacefully campaign for Kurdish rights.
The turmoil in the Kurdish organisation comes as the guerrillas face increasing pressure from Turkey and the US, which both see the guerrillas as terrorists. The group’s main fighting force of about 5 000 is based in the mountains of northern
Iraq and is expected to face serious pressure from US and Turkish forces as Washington struggles to bring stability to Iraq.
About 37 000 people, mostly Kurds, died in nearly two decades of fighting between the autonomy-seeking PKK and Turkish troops.
The PKK declared a ceasefire after Turkish forces captured the group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in 1999.
In Japan, media reports said concerns about the deteriorating security and fears of the political fallout may force Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to push back or draw down on plans to send a small number of troops to Iraq.
Koizumi had reportedly been hoping to get his Cabinet to sign orders by the end of this week to send an advance party of ground forces to southern Iraq next month to help with reconstruction and other non-combat duties.
Japan plans to send a 150-member advance contingent to southern Iraq by the end of the year and 550 soldiers early next year to provide water, medical care and other services. — Sapa-AP