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'Bombers had mental issues'
20/02/2008 18:01 - (SA)
Baghdad - The US military said on Wednesday that two women used as suicide bombers in attacks against two pet markets in Baghdad earlier this month had undergone psychiatric treatment, but there's no indication they had Down syndrome, as Iraqi officials had claimed.
Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, a military spokesperson, said the women had been positively identified as residents from the northeastern outskirts of Baghdad who were in their late 20s or early 30s.
Iraqi authorities said they based the assertion on photos of the bombers' heads that purportedly showed the women had Down syndrome, and did not offer any other proof.
Smith backed away from the claim about Down syndrome on Wednesday but said the women did suffer from mental issues.
"Both had recently received psychiatric treatment for depression and/or schizophrenia. From what they know now there's no indication that they had Down syndrome," Smith said.
Smith blamed Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias for a series of deadly rocket attacks in Baghdad, the most intense to hit the capital in weeks amid a steep decline in violence since a US-Iraq campaign against Sunni and Shi'ite extremists began a year ago February 14.
Death toll drops
Quantifying the successes, Smith said the number of civilian deaths in Baghdad had dropped from 1 087 men, women and children killed in February 2007 to 178 in the first month of this year.
Execution-style killings carried out by so-called sectarian death squads had also dropped some 95%, from 800 in February 2007 to below 40 so far this month.
The number of suicide attacks, meanwhile, went from 12 a month last year to just four in January, and the number of roadside bombings was down more than 45% in the year since the US-Iraqi operation began, he said.
Smith also announced that one American civilian was killed and a number of US troops and civilian personnel were wounded in a previously unreported rocket attack in the southeastern area of Rustamiyah on Tuesday night.
On Monday, 16 rockets slammed into an Iraqi housing complex near the Baghdad international airport and Camp Victory, the main US military headquarters, killing at least five people and wounding 16, including two US soldiers.
Six Iraqi suspects detained near the launching sites all had explosives residue on their bodies, Smith said, adding that troops also seized 19 launching systems, one 107mm rocket ready to be fired and other high explosives and munitions.
Rockets also slammed into US outposts in Baghdad on Tuesday night and Smith said three US soldiers were wounded, instead of four previously announced.
Iraqi police responding to the attack found an abandoned truck loaded with rockets, but one of them exploded before it could be defused.
- AP
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