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Sunday, Apr 25, 2004

International

International

Spate of attacks in Iraq

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, APRIL 24. A spate of attacks today killed seven American soldiers, four policemen and at least thirteen civilians, reinforcing demands for a key United Nations role in stemming political strife in Iraq. The five American troops were killed when at least two rockets slammed inside the Taji air base near Baghdad. Three of the six troops that were injured were in a critical condition.

Three others sustained serious injuries, the U.S. military command said. The Taji base is reportedly one of the first facilities in Iraq from where the newly created Iraqi Air Force had begun operating. North of Taji, four Iraqi policemen were killed and 16 wounded when a car bomb exploded near the main U.S. base in Tikrit.

A suicide bomber is understood to have been driving the car alongside the outer wall of the base when the vehicle blew up, next to shops. For Iraqi guerillas, policemen are legitimate targets as they are seen as collaborators of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. In a separate incident, at least thirteen civilians were killed and at least 30 people were wounded when a minimum of two rockets landed in a chicken market area in the Shia dominated Sadr city on Baghdad's outskirts. One of the rockets hit a gas cylinder, which exploded and added to the casualties. Sadr city has been one of the hubs of an anti-American uprising, steered by Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, which began earlier this month. U.S. authorities, however, denied any role in the attack. Hospital sources said that several of the injured were in a critical condition.

Escalating violence has added urgency to the implementation of a U.N. plan that would usher in Iraq's political transition. As the Iraqi resistance gathers momentum, the U.S. has signalled that it would back a transitional plan that is being authored by the U.N. special envoy, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi.

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