Deadline looms for Iraqi security

BAGHDAD - US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz flew into Baghdad yesterday to gauge security in Iraq, five months before a planned transfer of power to Iraqis.

Wolfowitz's third trip to Iraq since the war ended in April took place amid strict security as violence simmered across the country. During his previous visit in October, the hotel where he was staying was hit by rocket-propelled grenades.

"I will assess progress in this country since I was last here," he said.

US troops continue to face daily attacks by guerrillas opposed to the coalition occupation.

On Saturday, explosions across Iraq killed at least 18 people and the US predicted an upturn of violence ahead of the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday.

Guerrillas killed nine in a car bomb blast in the northern city of Mosul, a separate bomb killed three US soldiers north of Baghdad and at least six were killed in a pair of explosions in a crowded residential area of the capital.

A US soldier died on Saturday from wounds sustained in a roadside bomb attack west of Baghdad last week.

The deaths bring to 365 the number of US soldiers killed in action since the start of the war in March. Including non-combat deaths, 523 soldiers have died.

Washington is eager to establish stability before the planned handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi administration by July 1.

A senior US military officer in Baghdad said that in early November US forces had identified six to eight former regime cells in Baghdad.

Now they believed there were 14 cells of 250-300 "really hardcore guys who want to bring back what they had before".

The attack in Mosul, where policemen had gathered to pick up their pay, was made by a suicide bomber in a car, according to witnesses. It hurled pieces of the vehicle 300 metres. The blast severed limbs and dismembered bodies; several cars caught fire.

Only four days ago a white ambulance drew up beside the Shahin hotel in Baghdad.

The driver told a policeman: "I was told to pick up the body of somebody who had just died."

The policeman said he did not know anything about a body. At this point the driver stamped on his accelerator to bring the vehicle closer to the hotel.

The police realised he was a suicide bomber and opened fire. It was too late. The ambulance blew up. The explosion killed three people, gutted the hotel and smashed down the walls of a police station across the road.

Iraqis are becoming accustomed to living in the middle of terrible violence. Bombings have become the norm. Although the Shahin explosion was very large, ripping apart the hotel and nearby buildings, it was not as devastating as the bomb which 10 days earlier killed at least 25 people as they waited at the gates of the US headquarters in Baghdad.

- REUTERS, INDEPENDENT

Herald Feature: Iraq