Wounded al-Qaida Arabs wire themselves to explode

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Thirteen wounded al-Qaida loyalists -- grenades and other explosives strapped to their waists -- kept authorities and most hospital workers away Thursday at Kandahar's main hospital.

The standoff illustrates the difficulty of restoring order in Kandahar a week after the Taliban handed over the city to a tribal council -- and then promptly fled with their weapons.

The wounded Arab prisoners "have given an ultimatum. If someone else comes in, they'll blow themselves up," said Ghulam Mohammed, head nurse at Mirwais Hospital. "Only a few nurses are allowed to go in. Even I don't visit them."

Despite the threat, it was business as usual Thursday at the hospital, except around the three guarded rooms where the al-Qaida Arabs lay in their beds, wired for self-destruction.

Visitors milled around the halls, and doctors and nurses performed their daily routines, seemingly unfazed except by the occasional burst of gunfire.

"They don't allow anybody to see them except just those who are treating them, dressing the wounds or cleaning the rooms," Mohammed said.