Links to al-Qaida tenuous for suspected militant.

Byline: Stephen J. Hedges

WASHINGTON _ A day after explosions killed scores of worshippers in the Iraqi cities of Karbala and Baghdad, a top U.S. military commander told Congress on Wednesday that intelligence reports have traced the bombings to a terrorist linked to al-Qaida.

Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. forces in Iraq, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee and asserted that the "level of organization and the desire to cause casualties among innocent worshippers is a clear hallmark" of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who U.S. officials say has trained with al-Qaida.

But like other U.S. officials who have blamed al-Zarqawi for attacks in Iraq, the general offered no concrete evidence.

"We have intelligence that ties Zarqawi to this attack," Abizaid said. "We also have intelligence that shows that there is some linkage between Zarqawi and the former (Iraqi) regime elements" that the U.S. blames for many attacks on coalition soldiers and civilians in Iraq.

In January, U.S. officials discovered a letter purportedly written by al-Zarqawi to al-Qaida leaders. Military officials said the memo proposed igniting a civil war between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Muslims by attacking Shiites.

Tuesday's attacks targeted Shiite Muslims celebrating Ashura, a religious holiday.

On Wednesday, a message purportedly from al-Qaida denied responsibility for the bombings. The e-mail, received by the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, blamed U.S. troops.

Terrorism experts say al-Zarqawi trained with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. But some experts doubt he is coordinating with al-Qaida today.

"I think he's asking al-Qaida for support," Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Rand, said of the letter. "He's certainly in the position of a supplicant, emulating bin Laden."

While cautious not to contradict colleagues in Iraq, U.S. officials in Washington describe Zarqawi only as an "associate" of al-Qaida.

"He's someone with links to them, dealings with them in terms of training and logistics," said one U.S. official. "He's not a sworn member. We believe that he's played a role in some of these attacks."

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