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Iraqis 'speeding up campaign'
13/11/2003 20:47 - (SA)
Baghdad - The deadly bombing of an Italian police base in Nasiriyah has clearly signalled the spread of attacks against America's peacekeeping allies in Iraq, where the United States-led coalition struggles to curb growing resistance.
Since the start of the month, the coalition has suffered one blow after another, with a series of well-orchestrated and fatal strikes on US forces, but also against more vulnerable targets.
Wednesday's double suicide bombing that killed 18 Italians and nine Iraqis followed an unprecedented surge in attacks that has killed about 40 US soldiers since the beginning of the month.
The total number of US soldiers killed in combat in Iraq since May 1, when US President George W. Bush declared major hostilities over, now stands at 157.
The latest suicide bombing inflicted the greatest military loss for Italy since World War 2 and was the bloodiest for the US-led coalition ruling Iraq since Saddam Hussein's regime was ousted on April 9.
Flashpoint towns
The US army's air might suffered two deadly incidents when a Chinook was shot down on November 2, killing 16 soldiers, and a Blackhawk was downed last Friday, killing all six aboard it.
The attacks, which also wounded 26 others, happened near Fallujah and Tikrit, flashpoint towns north and west of Baghdad.
The hot zones, the focus of anti-American attacks, are bastions of support for Saddam Hussein, who was ousted from power by the US-led coalition on April 9.
British troops, based in the largely tranquil southern port of Basra, have occasionally been targeted, too, losing 11 soldiers to combat in Iraq since May 1.
But Wednesday's bombing proved that powerful strikes could easily target regions - even Shi'ite-dominated ones - that had so far been spared the ferocious violence crippling other areas.
The surge in attacks has already driven out international aid organisations, threatened US efforts to bolster peacekeeping forces and stirred public opinion increasingly against the occupation.
Even US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday advised countries contributing troops to the US-led mission in Iraq to do so "with their eyes open."
Japan backed off on Thursday from sending troops, only hours after the carnage at Nasiriyah, and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun's spokesman said he would agree to dispatch no more than 3 000, far fewer than Washington had requested.
- AFP
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