The top US military occupation commander in Iraq has said there is evidence ties may be growing between al-Qaida and "Saddam Hussein loyalists" waging a bloody insurgency in the country. "What you see is a lot of fingerprints in terms of the tactics and techniques and procedures that are being employed. We are working very hard to establish whether there are today positive links," Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez said in an interview. "We believe that those links may be growing."
| Because the one team has lost its captain, they're combining the two... |
Sanchez said the devastating car bombings against Western troops had raised fears al-Qaida had a hand in the bloodshed. "It is the frequency of the attacks and the types of attacks that are being conducted. You have Nasariya, you have Karbala, quite complex attacks with car bombs," he said. "Those are typically tactics al-Qaida has been using. That causes us to look with a little bit more focus, trying to establish what their operating capability is in the country." |