US Iraq toll hits 2 000

2005-10-25 13:13

Baghdad - The US death toll in Iraq reportedly hit 2 000 on Tuesday amid a sharp spike in violence that killed 14 Iraqis.

The news comes as the nation awaits the results of a key vote on a charter aimed at curbing sectarian violence.

The US network CNN, quoting Pentagon sources, reported that the number of soldiers killed since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq had reached 2 000 with the deaths of two more soldiers, a toll likely to add pressure on the US administration over its role in the violence-wracked country.

For the first time, a majority of Americans believe the Iraq war was the "wrong thing to do", according to a poll published in The Wall Street Journal.

Ten people were killed in a string of bombings in the Kurdish stronghold of Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq, while another four were killed in Baghdad.

Targeted

The Sulaimaniyah attacks targeted a building housing Kurdish peshmerga militamen and the convoy of a senior Kurdish politician, while security sources also defused a bomb outside a hotel used by journalists.

In Baghdad, four people were killed, including two security officials shot dead in the violent southern neighbourhood of Dura.

The capital was recovering from a triple suicide car bomb attack against hotels which killed at least 17 people on Monday as Iraqis sat down to break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

A cement truck packed with explosives was stopped before it reached the Sheraton hotel, and disappeared in a massive flash that sent up a towering column of gray and black smoke.

The blasts rocked Firdus Square, where the statue of ousted president Saddam Hussein was pulled down when US troops marched into Baghdad in April 2003, and shook the Palestine, Sheraton and Sadir hotels.

Surged

In the past week, almost 100 people have been killed as the number and strength of attacks surged following the start of former dictator Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity last Wednesday.

The latest blasts also underscored tension over the outcome of Iraq's draft constitution, which hung on the undeclared results of Sunni-dominated Nineveh province after a second region rejected it.

With a two-thirds majority "no" vote in three of Iraq's provinces sufficient to scuttle the document, all eyes turned to the "swing" northwestern province and its mixed capital of Mosul.

US and Iraqi officials hope the constitutional process will lead smoothly to general elections in mid-December and draw Sunni Arabs towards a political solution to end sectarian strife.

But the constitution, which is aimed at laying down a democratic future for Iraq, has exacerbated ethnic divisions with disaffected Sunni Arabs fearing it could lead to the break of the country and leave the country's oil wealth in the hands of Shiites and Kurds.

- AFP