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Thursday, Oct. 30, 2003

Two captured members of Ansar al-Islam have identified Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri as a force behind some of the attacks, the official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It is the first solid evidence of links between remnants of Saddam's regime and the non-Iraqi fighters responsible for at least some of the attacks on U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies, the official said.

Pentagon officials say Ansar al-Islam, which operated in northern Iraq before its camp was destroyed during the war, poses one of the greatest threats in Iraq. Military commanders have said they believe hundreds of non-Iraqi fighters from Ansar have entered Iraq to fight the U.S.-led occupation, many of them through neighboring Iran.

Al-Douri is No. 6 on the most-wanted list of 55 Iraqis and was vice chairman of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council. He was one of Saddam's few longtime confidants and his daughter was married to Saddam's son Odai, who was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in July.

NBC News first reported the al-Douri link to Ansar al-Islam Tuesday night. Asked Wednesday about the report, Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said he did not know anything about it.

Attacks on American troops have surged this week to about 33 a day, up from 26 per day last week and 15 per day in early September. A series of car bombings in and near Baghdad this week killed more than three dozen people.

The New York Times reported Thursday that President Bush wanted to speed plans for putting Iraqi security forces on the streets of Baghdad and other areas where Americans have come under attack. The report, attributed to unidentified military and administration officials, said plan would mean arming 18- and 19-year-old Iraqis for security duty after only a few weeks of training.

U.S. officials have been searching for months for suspected links between Saddam loyalists and foreign fighters such as Ansar members. Bush and other U.S. officials have said they believe the bombings in Baghdad Monday were the work of Saddam loyalists, foreign fighters or both.

Pentagon officials say the Baghdad bombings, four explosions in different parts of the city in less than an hour, showed a level of sophistication they had not seen before. Di Rita said the bombings indicated coordination "at least at the regional level."

The defense official who discussed the al-Douri link said he did not know if the al-Douri-Ansar alliance was responsible for the Baghdad bombings. He said military officials don't know to what extent al-Douri was coordinating attacks with Ansar.

Earlier this month, American forces captured a top associate of al-Douri in the town of Baqouba north of Baghdad.

U.S. officials have said for at least two months they suspect al-Douri of coordinating attacks on Americans but had not previously linked him to Ansar.

Biowarfare

U.S. officials say Ansar al-Islam has links to al-Qaida and has experimented with producing crude biological and chemical weapons. The group operated in a small section of northern Iraq surrounded by Kurdish-controlled areas which were outside Saddam's control.

Kurdish officials have long alleged that Saddam's government helped Ansar, but U.S. officials have said they haven't yet found definitive proof of that.

© 2003 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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