FBI to lead Baghdad bomb inquiry

Low-level attacks on US troops continue daily

The FBI is to investigate Thursday's bomb attack on the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad which killed at least 14 people.

Iraq's US administrator, Paul Bremer, said the agency would do all it could to help local authorities track down the perpetrators.

His comments came amid continuing instability across Iraq, with British troops coming under attack in the southern city of Basra after being deployed to quell fuel riots.

One hundred days is not enough to undo the terrible legacy of Saddam Hussein George W Bush UK troops attacked in Basra

Protestors reportedly threw stones, attacked cars registered in nearby Kuwait and burned tyres after electricity failures caused huge queues at petrol stations.

British forces were hit by stones and fired into the air to keep back a crowd at one petrol station, witnesses said.

In other developments:

• The US military said it had taken Saddam Hussein's interior minister, Mahmoud Diyab al-Ahmed - number 29 on its most wanted list of 55 former officials - into custody

• Four US troops were wounded in ambushes in the northern city of Kirkuk and Baghdad, officers told AP news agency

• US forces seized the former local commander of the Baath Party militia in the town of Falluja, a centre of resistance to coalition rule, in a pre-dawn raid, witnesses said

In a speech on Saturday, US President George W Bush warned that reconstructing Iraq would take a long time - 100 days after he announced that major combat operations there were over.

"One hundred days is not enough time to undo the terrible legacy of Saddam Hussein. There is difficult and dangerous work ahead that requires time and patience," he said in his weekly radio address.

Forensics skills

In the absence of claims of responsibility for Thursday's truck bomb attack on the Jordanian embassy, speculation has focused on an Islamic militant group, Ansar al-Islam.

In pictures: Embassy blast Arab-on-Arab attack

But the American in charge of retraining Iraq's police, Bernard Kerik, said there was no evidence of the group's involvement.

Mr Kerik, a former New York police chief, suggested the investigation needed specialist assistance in forensics and explosives.

Reports say the FBI team due to lead the investigation will consist of no more than a dozen agents.

Peacekeepers

In a separate development the UK Government has indicated it wants a new UN resolution to contribute peacekeepers for Iraq with the organisation's backing.

International Development Secretary Baroness Amos called for a new UN resolution on peacekeepers.

"There are some countries which would like to contribute to the peacekeeping effort but couldn't do that if there weren't another resolution," she said in an interview for the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The newspaper said she mentioned India, Pakistan and Turkey.