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The agreement would probably involve placing a BlackBerry server inside Saudi Arabia to allow the government to monitor messages and allay officials' fears that the service could be used for criminal purposes, the telecom regulatory officials said.

Bandar al-Mohammed, an official at the Saudi Communications and Information Technology Commission, said BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has expressed its "intention . . . to place a server inside Saudi Arabia." That will guarantee the kingdom's ability to see communications and data exchanged on BlackBerry handsets, he said. He said talks were ongoing and declined to provide more details pending an announcement, which he said was expected soon.

The deal could have wide-ranging implications for several other countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates, which have expressed similar concerns over how RIM handles data.

Saudi security officials fear the service could be used by militant groups to avoid detection. The kingdom has been waging a crackdown for years against al-Qaeda-linked extremists. It also enforces heavy policing of the Internet, blocking sites for political content and obscenities.

IRAQ

10 dead, 35 injured in Basra market blasts

Two explosions killed at least 10 people and wounded 35 Saturday in a downtown market in Iraq's second-largest city.

Officials differed over the cause of the blasts, which came within minutes of each other, at al-Ashaar market in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Two police officials said a roadside bomb and a car packed with explosives caused the explosions. A health official confirmed the number of casualties, which was matched by an Associated Press count of bodies taken to three city hospitals. The three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the news media.

But Police Chief Adil Daham said the explosions were caused by a malfunctioning power generator. Such differences are common in the immediate chaotic aftermath of explosions in Iraq.

The explosions marked the end of a violent day that saw the killings of seven policemen around Iraq -- the latest spate of attacks on security forces as all but 50,000 U.S. troops head home by the end of the month.