posted on May 12, 2007 05:26:06 AM new
Iraqi Police Guard Bridges After Bombs
Updated 7:01 AM ET May 12, 2007
By THOMAS WAGNER
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraqi police on Saturday closely guarded two bridges in Baghdad that were heavily damaged by suicide car bombers in what appears to be a new strategy by suspected Sunni insurgents of targeting crossovers in the capital.
Friday's attacks in predominantly Shiite areas of the city brought to five the number of bridges that have been targeted by large explosions in Baghdad since March 21.
It remains unclear whether the main goal of Iraqi insurgents is to spark sectarian violence by targeting bridges that unite predominantly Shiite and Sunni areas of the city, or to knock out vital supply and transportation links in the capital.
In another development, The New York Times reported Saturday that a draft of a new American government report says that between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq's declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling. Using an average of $50 a barrel, the report says the discrepancy was valued at $5 million to $15 million daily, the paper said.
The draft report comes as the U.S. and Iraqi governments are under pressure to show progress in Iraq by raising oil production levels, which have been well below the U.S. goal of 3 million barrels a day. Virtually the entire economy of oil-rich Iraq is dependent on oil revenues.
Friday's suicide car bombers attacked two bridges that cross the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris, and are located about 2.5 miles apart in southeastern Baghdad.
The two attacks occurred within moments of each other at about 6 p.m. on Friday, the traditional Islamic day of worship, and killed at least 23 Iraqis and wounded 57, including police at checkpoints and civilians driving or walking across the bridges, police said.
In all, at least 52 Iraqis were killed or found dead Friday in sectarian violence in Iraq. Also Friday, the military announced that two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate bombing attacks the day before _ one in Diyala province north of the capital and the other in Baghdad.
Dozens of people, meanwhile, took to the streets in the Diyala provincial capital of Baqouba to demand the release of four women they said were detained Friday by U.S. troops. The U.S. military had no immediate comment on the protest.
The bridge blasts underscored the difficulty U.S.-led forces are having in destroying the presumably Sunni insurgent cells that stepped up car bombings in the capital since the U.S. began its security crackdown more than 12 weeks ago.
On Saturday, the old Diyala bridge, which American forces had rebuilt after destroying it at the start of the Iraq war, had one of its two lanes open to traffic and pedestrians. Police kept everyone away from a large hole blown through the concrete span over the Diyala River. Blood stains from the bombing could still be seen at some points on the bridge.
Nearby, on the two-lane new Diyala bridge, remnants of the truck that a suicide attacker apparently used were located near a large hole in the concrete crossover, exposing large rods of steel. The hole in the low-lying bridge was filled with water.
In the past two months, Baghdad's bridges repeatedly have been targeted by bombers.
The most serious had been the April 12 truck bombing that collapsed the steel-girder Sarafiyah bridge in north-central Baghdad, plunging cars into the Tigris and killing 11 people.
Two days later, a suicide car bomb killed 10 people at the Jadriyah bridge in south-central Baghdad.
The first such attack occurred March 21, when security forces discovered a booby-trapped truck parked on the Mohammed al-Qassim bridge in north Baghdad, which passes over neighborhoods. The explosives were covered with boxes of fruits and vegetables.
Security forces did not have enough time to dismantle the bombs so they evacuated the area and detonated the truck, causing some damage to the bridge. Although the area was evacuated, one civilian was killed and seven were wounded in the powerful blast.
The New York Times said the draft U.S. government report it obtained was prepared by the U.S. Government Accountability Office with the help of government energy analysts. The paper says the report is expected to be released within the next week.
It does not conclude what happened to the missing fraction of the roughly 2 million barrels pumped by Iraq each day, but its findings are expected to reinforce long-standing suspicions that smugglers, insurgents and corrupt officials control significant parts of the country's oil industry, the paper said.
It said the draft report also covered alternative explanations for the billions of dollars worth of discrepancies, including the possibility that Iraq has been overstating its oil production.
In other violence reported by police, a parked car bomb struck a gas station in the mainly Sunni town of Madain, 14 miles southeast of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four others who were waiting in line for fuel.
A bomb also exploded near a Shiite mosque in northeastern Baghdad late Friday, killing at least one worshipper and wounding six.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted on May 12, 2007 05:40:48 AM new
5 GIs Dead, 3 Missing After Iraq Attack
Updated 8:17 AM ET May 12, 2007
BAGHDAD (AP) - An attack on a unit of U.S.-led forces patrolling outside the Iraqi capital before dawn left five soldiers dead and three missing, the military said.
The attack on the patrol of seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter soldier occurred near Mahmoudiya, in a Sunni insurgent stronghold about 20 miles south of Baghdad, the military said.
Troops were searching for the three missing soldiers, the military said.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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