Mosul death toll rises to 26

2004-12-22 10:05

Baghdad - The death toll in an attack on a US Army base near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul reached 26 early on Wednesday, including 19 American soldiers, the US military said.

Apparent rocket or mortar rounds struck a mess tent on Tuesday at Camp Marez, where dozens of soldiers were sitting down for lunch.

The remaining seven dead included soldiers of the Iraqi interim government and some civilian military contract workers, both Americans and other nationals, according to US military sources.

At least 60 people were wounded in the deadliest attack on an US base in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to topple the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

A radical Islamic group called the Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility for the attack, al-Arabiya television reported. The group claimed a suicide bombing; initial reports from the scene had conflicting details about whether the blast came from an outside projectile or an "inside" job.

The Camp Marez base is at an airfield southwest of Mosul, and the tent had a dining capacity of 500.

Iraqi insurgents have intensified their attacks as the January 30 election to select a constitutional assembly nears. Violence has increased in Mosul since last month, when US forces took control of Fallujah, where militants had operated freely for months.

Meanwhile, two French journalists held for the past four months in Iraq have been freed, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed late Tuesday in Paris.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Herve Ladsous said that 37-year-old Christian Chesnot, a reporter with Radio France Internationale, and Georges Malbrunot, 41, of the leading French daily Le Figaro, had been handed over to the French diplomatic mission in Baghdad.

The journalists had been abducted on August 20 by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq. They had been south of Baghdad, en route to the holy Shiite city of Najaf.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier was expected to escort Chesnot and Malbrunot on Wednesday from Baghdad back to Paris.

In Washington, US President George W Bush vowed to stay the course in Iraq and offered "heartfelt condolences" to the families of troops and others killed in Mosul.

"We want them to know it is a vital mission for peace," Bush said.

The attack occurred as British Prime Minister Tony Blair paid a surprise visit to Baghdad, where he said violence was likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

"We know things are difficult with the security situation," Blair told reporters in Baghdad. "I think everyone understands that there will be violence even after the election."

Blair paid his respects to members of the independent election commission, whom he said risked their lives day after day, and characterised the conflict as one between "democracy and terror".

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who met with Blair, promised to hold the parliamentary elections as planned. "We believe very strongly that as we move progressively on the political process, this will have an impact on the security situation," Allawi said. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA