Bomb kills six civilians in southern Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq – An explosion on a road frequently used by British troops killed six civilians in the southern city of Basra, hospital officials said Tuesday, and the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the military detained about 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaida.

Also, an explosion occurred Tuesday afternoon as U.S. soldiers were escorting 16 Iraqi prisoners from jail to a court in the Waziriyah district, injuring two Iraqi policemen and two prisoners, police Sgt. Ali Manhal said.

Meanwhile, a Kurdish guerrilla group that battled the Turkish army for 15 years said it was morphing into a peaceful organization.

The Basra blast occurred during the morning rush hour and destroyed two cars, witnesses said. Soldiers blocked off access to the site, and Iraqi police and hospital officials said six civilians were killed.

In Baghdad, the coalition military commander, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said American forces arrested about 20 people possibly linked to Osama bin Laden’s terror network. The detainees are being interrogated, but Sanchez said officials haven’t been able to “establish definitively” that they belong to al-Qaida.

U.S. and Iraqi officials believe that foreign fighters and Islamic miliants have been carrying out attacks in Iraq, parallel to the resistance believed led by loyalists of ousted leader Saddam Hussein. But how many foreign fighters have slipped into the country and how closely they are working with Iraqi guerrillas has been a mystery.

Sanchez said Tuesday that “hundreds” of foreigners cross the border into Iraqi to carry out attacks – including Yemenis, Sudanese, Syrians and Egyptians.

In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tuesday that “considerable effort” was being made to get better intelligence on fighters in Iraq.

Asked in the House of Commons about those responsible for attacks, Straw said, “We cannot tell for certain. Indeed,if we knew for certain dealing with the terrorists would be that much easier.”

Sanchez did not say where the detained suspects were being held, when they were detained or whether any of them have been released. When asked how close U.S. forces were to capturing Saddam, Sanchez replied, “Not close enough.”

U.S. officials have said at least some 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, believed to have ties to al-Qaida.

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 attacking coalition forces.

Meanwhile, about 200 Shiite Muslims rallied briefly Tuesday in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City to protest the shooting death of the chairman of the U.S.-appointed municipal council, Muhanad al-Kaadi, during an altercation with U.S. military guards.

The protest broke up when soldiers ordered the crowd to disperse, participant Ali Mohammed said.

Al-Kaadi was shot Sunday after arguing with a soldier guarding council headquarters, the U.S. military said. The statement blamed it 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, was 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 likely would be pan-Kurdish and would pursue Kurdish rights through negotiations.

“KADEK is being dissolved in order to make way for a new, more democratic organizational structure that allows for broader participation,” the group said in a statement.

The group was originally called the Kurdistan Workers Party, or 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 organization comes as the guerrillas face increasing pressure from Turkey and the United States, both of which consider the guerrillas to be terrorists.

The group’s main fighting force of about 5,000 is based in the northern Iraqi mountains and is expected to face serious pressure from U.S. and Turkish forces as Washington struggles to bring stability to Iraq.

Some 37,000 people, mostly Kurds, died in nearly two decades of fighting between the autonomy-seeking PKK and Turkish troops.

The PKK declared a cease-fire after Turkish forces captured the group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, in 1999.

In Japan, media reports said gnawing concerns about the deteriorating security situation and worries about the political fallout may force Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to push back or water down his plans to send a small troop contingent to Iraq.

The Japanese were planning to send 150 soldiers to southern Iraq by Dec. 31 and 550 soldiers early next year to provide water, medical care and other services. Koizumi reportedly hoped to get his Cabinet to sign those orders by week’s end.

Koizumi has supported the war before an increasingly skeptical Japanese public and earmarked billions of dollars for humanitarian aid.