Suicide bomber behind Iraq bloodshed, Mosul locked down

MOSUL, Iraq - The deadliest attack on Americans in Iraq was probably the work of a suicide bomber who evaded security on a major US military base in Mosul, Washington's top general said.

"It looks like it was an improvised explosive device worn by an attacker," General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Washington, ending 36 hours of confusion over what killed 18 Americans and four others in a mess tent at the Marez base at lunchtime on Tuesday.

The admission, which gave credibility to a claim made by the Ansar al-Sunna militant group, has serious implications for US forces as they try to secure an election at the end of January.

Casualty details referred to an unidentified non-American civilian among the dead. Thirteen were US soldiers, five were American civilians and three were Iraqi National Guards. Another 69 people were wounded -- an extraordinary toll for a single suicide bomber, suggesting a very powerful explosive charge.

That an insurgent could enter one of the hardest targets in Iraq will shock many. But such bases house growing numbers of Iraqi forces and other staff, vital to the US plan to hand security over in time in order to bring American troops home.

"The insurgency is going to get worse as we approach the elections," Myers said, stressing the key role that would be played increasingly by Iraqi security forces.
Rumsfeld, who is already under fire by critics for failing to do enough to protect troops, added: "Looking for a peaceful Iraq after the elections would be a mistake."

Tuesday's attack took place when US soldiers at Forward Operating Base Marez, a huge camp built round the city's airfield, were sitting down to lunch in a vast tented hall made of canvas and metal -- a type used throughout Iraq.

Forty-four of the revised toll of 69 wounded were US soldiers. Some were taken to a military hospital in Germany, eight in critical condition, hospital staff said. The previous costliest incident for Americans was last year when two helicopters came down in Mosul killing 17 soldiers.

MOSUL LOCKED DOWN

US forces sealed off entire districts of Mosul, blocking bridges and raiding homes in a hunt for suspects.

Mosul's governor issued an overnight order on television banning use of the five bridges over the River Tigris and said anyone breaking the order would be shot. Residents said Iraq's third city was a virtual ghost town, with no one in the streets.

"Students went to school but were told to go home. People went to the shops, saw American troops in the streets, and went home," said Ahmad, 25, a Mosul car dealer too anxious to give his surname. "The place is shut down," said another worried resident, adding that mosques and markets were virtually empty.

"We are conducting offensive operations to target specific objectives," US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings said.

Witnesses said US forces, backed by Iraqi National Guards, sealed off neighbourhoods in western and southeastern Mosul and raided homes. "They're looking in the areas that are known hotspots," one resident in the west of the city said.

A loud explosion hit the west of the city after dark. The cause was not clear, and a US military spokesman said he was aware of it but no US forces or equipment had been damaged.

Elsewhere, nine people were killed and 13 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack south of Baghdad, National Guards said. 

US CONTRACTOR PULLS OUT

The Mosul attack raised fears of a new guerrilla offensive before next month's election, six weeks after US troops stormed the rebel stronghold of Falluja in a bid to crush the insurgency. Hitherto quiet Mosul has seen near anarchy since.

In what looked like a blow to US efforts to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure in the face of determined insurgent attacks, a major US contracting firm, Contrack International, pulled out of a $325 million transport project because of violence, a US official in Baghdad said on Wednesday.

The company is the first US contractor to leave Iraq totally. Instability and the anti-American insurgency have delayed an $18.6 billion US-funded rebuilding program and forced more money to be diverted to security.

Contrack led a consortium to build roads, bridges, airport facilities and railways.

- REUTERS