Dozens of Iraqis, Troops Injured in Attacks

Apparent suicide bombings this morning in Iraq killed at least 11 Iraqis and wounded possibly a hundred other people, including Iraqis and troops from the U.S., Poland and Hungary, according to preliminary reports.

The attack was one of a series of lethal assaults this month that appear to be aimed at Iraqis--or anyone--cooperating with the U.S. led coalition authority, which is currently attempting to turn over policing and other security functions to local people.

Today's blasts claimed the lives of women and children as well as men, a spokeswoman for the authority told wire services.

The attack occurred in the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad, when troops opened fire on two explosive laden trucks trying to enter a military supply base manned by an international contingent of Poles, Hungarians and Americans, according to wire service reports.

The U.S. spokeswoman put the death toll at 11. Polish Gen. Mieczyslaw Bieniek told the AP that the blasts that followed wounded 44 Iraqis and 58 coalition troops. Bieniek called it a "well coordinated terrorist attack."

Hungarian Defense Ministry Spokesman Istvan Bocskai said two of the 10 Hungarian soldiers were seriously wounded, but the injuries weren't life threatening.

Poland leads a multinational force of about 9,500 soldiers in south-central Iraq. Its troops also fought in the U.S.-led war that began March 20 to oust Saddam Hussein. Hungary has 300 troops in Iraq providing logistical support and humanitarian aid.

A Polish officer was killed in November 2003, the first Polish soldier killed in combat since the aftermath of World War II.

The latest attacks come as United Nations officials consider whether the security situation in Iraq might permit elections any time soon. Since the U.N. began its inquiry, attackers appear to have stepped up their violence.

On Feb. 13, in a brazen daylight attack, fighters with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and mortars stormed a police station in the restive city of Fallujah, freeing dozens of prisoners in a battle that killed as many as 23 people and dealt another blow to U.S. efforts to resurrect Iraq's security forces.

A vehicle bomb in Baghdad on Feb. 11 killed 47 people, many of whom were waiting outside a government building to apply for jobs in the new U.S.-trained Iraqi army.

The attack occurred less than a mile from the Green Zone, the high-security neighborhood where the U.S.-led occupation authority has its headquarters.

It was strikingly similar to an attack a day earlier that killed 53 people in Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad. That incident, which U.S. and Iraqi officials blamed on a suicide bomber in a pickup truck, occurred at about 9 a.m. on a street crowded with Iraqis applying for jobs as police officers.

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Direct Link:
--http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50372-2004Feb18.html

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