IRAQ Basra blast kills 6 citizens

The coalition's commander said the U.S. is 'not close enough' to capturing Saddam.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- An explosion today on a road frequently used by British troops killed six civilians in the southern city of Basra, hospital officials said, and the top U.S. commander in Iraq said the military had detained about 20 people suspected of links to Al-Qaida.
Meanwhile, a Kurdish guerrilla group that had battled the Turkish army for 15 years said 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.
Arrests made
In Baghdad, the coalition military commander, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, told reporters that the U.S. military had arrested about 20 people who may have been linked to Al-Qaida 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-Qaida members, but as we have continued to refine and interrogate, we have not been able to establish definitively that they were Al-Qaida members," Sanchez said.
Sanchez did not say where they were held, when they were detained or whether any of them have been released.
U.S. officials have said they suspect foreign volunteers, including some from Al-Qaida, have slipped across the borders into Iraq to take part in a "holy war" against the U.S.-led occupation.
However, a number of U.S. commanders have said they were uncertain about the numbers of foreign fighters and their role in the insurgency.
Asked about foreign fighters, Sanchez said "hundreds" of foreigners cross the border area to carry out attacks here. Sanchez was asked how close U.S. forces had been to capturing Saddam Hussein, Sanchez replied only: "Not close enough."
Who are attackers?
American commanders have speculated that they are facing attacks from Saddam supporters, religious extremists and foreign fighters. U.S. 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-Qaida. It was unclear whether Sanchez was referring to Ansar fighters when he said the Americans were holding about 20 Al-Qaida suspects.
Sanchez also said that though 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.
Kurdish group
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 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.
Pressure mounts
The turmoil in the Kurdish organization comes as the guerrillas face increasing pressure from Turkey and the United States, which both consider the guerrillas as terrorists. The group's main fighting force of some 5,000 is based in the mountains of northern Iraq 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.
Japanese troops
In Japan, media reports said that 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 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 noncombat duties.
Koizumi has stood behind the U.S.-led "coalition of the willing" since the outbreak of fighting in Iraq, but so far his support has been limited to justifying the war to an increasingly skeptical Japanese public and earmarking billions of dollars for humanitarian aid.
The Japanese plan 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.