Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/6/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/U-S BRIEFING/FOREIGNERS (S-O)

NUMBER=2-301832

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=DOHA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-S military in the Gulf says it has killed and captured several foreign fighters in Iraq and has evidence that they may have been trained at a camp at Salman Pak, southeast of Baghdad. V-O-A's Roger Wilkison reports from U-S Central Command headquarters in Qatar.

TEXT: A senior U-S military officer, Brigadier General Vince Brooks, says U-S forces killed or captured fighters from Egypt and Sudan, among other countries, during clashes in Iraq.

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Some of these fighters came from Sudan, some from Egypt, some from other places, and we have killed a number of them and captured a number of them.

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General Brooks did not say when or where or how many foreign fighters had been killed or captured. But he says U-S forces found evidence of military training activities inside Iraq that increased the likelihood of links between Iraq and terrorist organizations.

In the first report of a training camp for foreigners inside Iraqi-controlled territory, General Brooks mentioned that U-S forces believe a facility at Salman Pak, about 20-kilometers southeast of Baghdad, is one place foreign fighters underwent training.

Several days ago, U-S forces destroyed a camp in the autonomous Kurdish-controlled area of northern Iraq where Ansar-al-Islam, a group Washington says had links to Al-Qaida, was based. (SIGNED)

NEB/RW/ALW/RAE