6 Iraqis detained near California border

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...34_wdig30.html



World Digest

6 Iraqis detained near California border
Mexico City

Mexican officials detained six Iraqis at checkpoints near the California border over the past week as they apparently were preparing to enter the United States, Mexico's attorney general's office said yesterday.

There was no evidence that the detained Iraqis had ties to any terrorist groups, Mexican officials said. Still, the arrests spotlighted fears that terrorists might try to enter the United States from Mexico. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently raised that concern with U.S. lawmakers and Mexican officials.

Four Iraqis were apprehended at the Mexicali airport Saturday, said Abraham Sarabia, a spokesman for the attorney general's office in nearby Tijuana. Traveling with the four Iraqis was a U.S. woman whom Sarabia identified as Alya Kiryakous Dawood Sako. The four Iraqis now are in the custody of Mexico.

Two other Iraqis were detained March 23 at a highway checkpoint between San Luis Rio Colorado and Mexicali. They also remain in Mexican custody.

The U.S. official said initial, "unofficial" indications were that the Iraqis were just trying to get into the United States illegally and that there was no connection to terrorism or other suspicious activity.