20 suspects of al-Qaida links held in Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 12, 2003

20 suspects of al-Qaida links held in Iraq

US military is currently holding about 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaida terror network, US ground forces commander in Iraq Ricardo Sanchez said Tuesday.

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US military is currently holding about 20 people suspected of links to al-Qaida terror network, US ground forces commander in Iraq Ricardo Sanchez said Tuesday.

"Currently we have about 20 who are suspected of being from al-Qaida," he told a press conference here, adding that the detainees were being questioned for confirmation.

Sanchez said hundreds of foreign fighters have come over the borders with Syria and Iran to carry out attacks in Iraq.

He added that Iraqi immigration authorities are monitoring the borders and carefully checking the documents taken by foreigners.

US officials have blamed the wave of suicide bombings and intensified anti-coalition attacks on a mixture of Saddam Hussein's loyalists, Islam extremists and foreign fighters.

"We believe that there is in fact a linkage, if nothing more than of course ideology and then also some training and possibly some financial linkages that exist," said Sanchez.

Asked how close the US forces were to capture Saddam himself, the general said "no close enough."

US civil administrator Paul Bremer said late last month that al-Qaida and Ansar al-Islam, an extremist group believed linked to the former, began to regroup in July.

"There's no question we have scores of Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaida terrorists here," said Bremer.

However, US forces so far have never provided any concrete evidence to prove the accusation.

Bremer said in a Times report published on Monday that the US-led coalition was facing intensified terrorist attacks in the coming months when foreign aid begins to flow into Iraq.

"There are going to be increased attacks and increased terrorism because the terrorists can see the reconstruction dynamic is moving in our direction," Bremer said.

"Unless our intelligence gets better, we are going to have a problem," he added.

Between six to eight rockets hit a hotel inside the heavily fortified coalition headquarters in Baghdad on Oct. 26, followed by five near simultaneous suicide car bombings in the capital city thenext day.

Unknown fighters in this month shot down two US helicopters, killing 22 soldiers in total and wounding 26 others.

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