Brits Head To Iraq Danger Zone

[David]

AP


Britain agreed Thursday to meet a U.S. request for British troops to be moved into volatile central Iraq, a proposal that has met strong opposition within the governing Labor Party.

The redeployment of troops from the relatively peaceful south aims at freeing up American forces to intensify attacks on insurgents as the coalition tries to stabilize Iraq ahead of elections in January.

"After careful evaluation, the chiefs of staff have advised me that U.K. forces are able to undertake the proposed operation, that there is a compelling military operational justification for doing so, and that it entails a militarily acceptable level of risk for U.K. forces," Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons.

Hoon said there were no plans to raise British troop numbers within Iraq.

U.S. military commanders asked on Oct. 10 whether Britain would send a unit currently stationed in southern Iraq to the U.S.-controlled sector farther north. The troops were needed, commanders said, to replace American soldiers involved in offensive operations against insurgents.

Some members of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party believe the request was politically motivated ? intended to spare American forces from casualties in the waning days of the U.S. presidential campaign.

In other developments:


The company commander of a U.S. Army Reserve unit whose soldiers refused to deliver fuel along a dangerous route has been relieved of duty at her own request, the U.S. military said Thursday. "The outgoing commander is not suspected of misconduct and this move has nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of anyone involved," a statement said.


Hospital officials said Thursday that a pair of car bombings in Samarra a day earlier were suicide attacks that killed 10 Iraqi civilians and injured 14 others. Residents said the twin blasts Wednesday afternoon ruined five shops and that sporadic gunfire broke out afterward, damaging several vehicles in Samarra, a city 60 miles north of Baghdad that U.S. and Iraqi forces retook earlier this month from insurgents.


U.S. aircraft mounted four strikes Wednesday in Fallujah on what the U.S. military said were safehouses used by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network.


Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari complained Wednesday that the United Nations has not sent enough election experts to help prepare for the balloting. "It is unfortunate that the contribution and participation of U.N. employees in this process is not up to expectations," Zebari told reporters.

Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying female employees of Iraqi Airways to the Baghdad airport Thursday, killing one and wounding 14, an airline official said. All the victims were Iraqi women.

The attack on the airline workers occurred on the main road linking the airport with central Baghdad, the official said on condition of anonymity. The U.S. State Department has described travel between central Baghdad and the airport as "particularly dangerous."

The official said the attack killed one person and wounded 14 ? all women. Insurgents often target Iraqis seen as cooperating with American or government institutions.

Meanwhile, the husband of the kidnapped director of CARE International made a plea in Baghdad for her release, saying she has spent her life helping Iraqis.

Margaret Hassan, the head of operations in Iraq for the CARE, was abducted on her way to work early Tuesday by gunmen who blocked her route and dragged the driver and a companion from the car, said her husband Tahseen Ali Hassan.

During a press conference Thursday, Hassan, an Iraqi national, addressed the kidnappers, saying: "Release my wife. She's Iraqi; she's working for a humanitarian organization and I ask you to release her."

Hassan has worked in Iraq for three decades and is among the most widely known humanitarian officials in the Middle East.

She holds British, Irish and Iraqi citizenship, and is the most high-profile figure to fall victim to a wave of kidnappings sweeping Iraq in recent months. CARE International has suspended its operations in Iraq.

Ali Hassan said no group has claimed responsibility for her abduction so far and he did not know if she was taken by a religious or political group.

Arab television station Al-Jazeera has broadcast a brief video showing Hassan, wearing a white blouse and appearing tense, sitting in a room with bare white walls. The video did not identify what group was holding her and contained no demand for her release.

Al Hassan said he expects his wife, who is in her early 60s, is "nervous of course" but called her "a strong lady."

He said he was surprised when he heard the news about Hassan's kidnapping.

"I was really shocked, I couldn't believe it myself. She's not involved in politics or religion," he said. "I'm shattered, I haven't slept."