Two explosions in the southern Iraqi city of Basra wounded 13 British soldiers yesterday, in an attack that followed a demonstration by unemployed youths, the British military said. "None of the injuries is thought to be life-threatening," a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence in London said. A military spokesman in Basra said the blasts followed a demonstration by unemployed men, during which stones and petrol bombs were hurled at British soldiers. He said the "public disorder" was still going on when the blasts occurred, but it was not clear whether they were linked. Fifty-nine British military personnel have been killed in Iraq, either in combat or in accidents, since the start of the US-led war. **Sistani to snub UN*** Meanwhile, Iraq's Shiite leader said yesterday he would refuse all dialogue with the United Nations unless it rejects the country's new interim law. In a letter to the UN envoy to Iraq, top Shi'ite cleric Ali Al Sistani said he would refuse to meet the UN team, due here this week, if the Security Council passed any resolution endorsing the law. Sistani "does not wish to be part of any meetings or deliberations with the UN mission unless the United Nations adopts a clear position saying that the fundamental law is not binding to the (Iraqi) National Assembly," his office wrote. The letter to envoy Lakhdar Brahimi stated that the interim constitution, known as the administrative law, must not be mentioned in "any new UN Security Council resolution about Iraq." The law is aimed at seeing Iraq through a period of transition and general elections before the end of January 2005. Two Finnish businessmen were shot dead in Baghdad yesterday apparently because they "looked like Westerners," said a Finnish diplomat visiting the Iraqi capital. "It is very tragic. It is senseless. It looks like it was a random operation, maybe because they looked like westerners," Hans Ottelin, first secretary at the Finnish embassy in Damascus. Seppo Haapanen and Jorma Toronen worked for the power systems and networks company, Ensto Utility Network, and the electricity consultancy firm, Air Lx, respectively. **PHOTO CAPTION*** British soldiers were wounded, three seriously, and some set on fire when a demonstration turned violent in the southern Iraq city of Basra March 22, 2004. (Reuters)