Attacks Increase During Ramadan

Associated Press

October 19, 2006

CBNNews.com -- BAGHDAD, Iraq -- There has been a spike in violence during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

According to a U.S. military spokesman the attacks have increased by 22 percent.

The increase has been described as "disheartening." The Americans were working with Iraqi authorities to "refocus" security measures, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said.

And officials say the effort to secure Baghdad has fallen short.

"In Baghdad, Operation Together Forward has made a difference in the focus areas but has not met our overall expectations in sustaining a reduction in the level of violence," Caldwell said at a weekly news briefing.

Authorities imposed a curfew after a morning attack on Abi Tamam police station, but it was lifted after nearly six hours.

A suicide bomber driving a fuel tanker struck the police station in the northern city of Mosul, killing 12 people and wounding 25, many of them motorists waiting to buy gas at a nearby station, police said.

The attacker was trying to slam the tanker into the police station when he was shot to death by a policeman, igniting the fuel in his vehicle and setting off the explosives.

The station commander, Col. Abed Hamed al-Jibouri, said the massive blast damaged the police station and destroyed as many as 42 cars waiting nearby to buy gas.

At least two policemen were among the 12 people killed in the attack, al-Jibouri said, adding that 25 people were wounded.

The northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk have seen a significant increase in violence in recent weeks. The move comes as U.S. troops focus on crushing insurgent and militia activity in the center of the country, especially in the capital and its environs.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced that an American soldier had been killed in combat Wednesday in Anbar province.

It was the 71st death of an American service member in October, putting it on course to be the bloodiest month for U.S. forces in nearly two years.

Police also said at least four people were killed and 13 wounded when a pair of roadside bombs went off in quick succession in the same spot in a residential part of the southern Dora district of Baghdad.

Elsewhere in Dora, one of Baghdad's most violent areas, gunmen opened fire on a police station, killing four policemen. The gunbattle ended when U.S. troops came to the rescue, forcing the assailants to flee, police said.

A roadside bomb also hit a convoy of civilian cars south of Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, killing four and wounding one, police Lt. Mohammed al-Shimmari said.

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