BASRA, Iraq (AP) -- A roadside bomb targeted a joint Danish-Iraqi military patrol near the southern city of Basra on Monday - the first attack on Danish troops since protests against a Danish newspaper for publishing widely criticized caricatures of Islam's prophet. There were no casualties in the attack, which occurred as the troops crossed a bridge in a rural area about 60 miles north of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, police Capt. Mushtaq Talib said.
British Maj. Peter Cripps said coalition forces are investigating if there was any link between the attack and September's publication by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad deemed offensive by many Muslims. "The Danish patrols have made no change in activities since the caricatures were published, but clearly they will put some more attention on the local population and how they feel about the Danish presence here," Cripps said.
About 430 Danish troops are in Iraq, based in the northern part of Basra province, a predominantly Shiite Muslim region that has been calmer than other parts of Iraq, despite periodic spikes in sectarian- and militia-related violence. |