Rebels rebound as bombings kill four in Iraq

A young boy is assisted by an Iraqi fireman following a roadside bomb attack near his home in Baghdad. Picture / Reuters

BAGHDAD - Bombings targeting US and Iraqi forces killed at least four people yesterday as insurgents appeared to rebound after a lull in violence since the country's January elections.

In the worst incident, a roadside bomb near the central city of Samarra killed two Iraqi soldiers, an army source said.

In Baghdad, a car bomb intended for a US military convoy passing through the upscale Mansour neighborhood killed at least one person and wounded five, including an American soldier, police and the US military said.

On the other side of the capital shortly afterwards, a bomb targeting Iraqi National Guard troops killed a civilian and wounded three others, police said.

The attacks were small-scale by Iraq's standards, but reinforced the impression of a resurgence in the violence that has been so common over the past two years and which seemed to have subsided since the election.

Wednesday and Thursday, at least 10 bomb blasts throughout the country killed more than 30 people, including 15 in twin suicide attacks in central Baghdad.

The bloodshed has increased pressure on Iraq's newly elected leaders who have been squabbling over the formation of a government for the past 11 weeks - indecision that some fear could play into the hands of insurgents.

Iraq has appointed a president and prime minister but key interior, oil and defence ministers have yet to be chosen.

Some Iraqis worry that insurgents could exploit the political vacuum and step up attacks on leaders perceived as weak and indecisive if the bickering drags on.

The scene in Mansour was typical of the violence that Iraqi leaders had hoped would diminish after millions of people defied suicide bombers and voted in the national assembly elections.

Bodies lay in the street. Several cars were burned. Smoke and flames rose near a restaurant, witnesses said.

US commanders say the number of insurgent attacks has dropped by about a fifth since the election, but the scale and sophistication of militant operations seems to have increased.

Earlier this month, a group of 60 insurgents launched an assault on the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, detonating two car bombs and firing mortars and rockets. US forces repelled the attack after hours of fighting.

Wednesday, mortar fire killed a US soldier in western Iraq, the military said yesterday. More than 1,540 US troops have been killed since the March 2003 invasion.

High-profile kidnappings have also resumed. An American seized this week from a reconstruction project near the capital was shown in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera television on Wednesday.

The man, identified by the US embassy in Baghdad as Jeffrey Ake, a water company executive from Indiana, pleaded with US authorities to negotiate for his release and urged US forces to withdraw from Iraq, Jazeera said.

Thousands of Iraqis have also been kidnapped by criminal gangs that thrive on the chaos.

Sounding an optimistic note, the chief of Iraq's state oil marketing company, SOMO, said he expected improved security to boost crude exports, vital for reviving the shattered economy.

Guerrilla sabotage of Iraq's northern export pipeline to Turkey has undermined efforts to step up oil sales.

Dhiaa al-Bakkaa told Reuters Iraqi exports could increase to 2 million barrels per day by the end of September from a current level of 1.5 million barrels.

- REUTERS