Iraq faces 'dirty bomb' threat
Pastor Dale Morgan
Iraq faces 'dirty bomb' threat*
As a joint operation by US and Iraqi troops to win control of Baghdad
pressed on Thursday, their insurgent foes were fighting back with deadly
new tactics, including poison gas attacks.
Iraqi medics were treating dozens of patients poisoned by chlorine after
militants targeted civilian areas with trucks rigged up as dirty bombs,
said Qais Abdulwahab, director of Baghdad's Kadhimiya Hospital.
Confidence in the Iraqi security plan, meanwhile, has been rocked by a
pair of rape allegations by Sunni women against Shiite police and troops
amid unprecedented publicity in the Arab media.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has furiously denied the first allegation
to surface, branding a 20-year-old woman who alleged she was gang-raped
by Baghdad police a liar and a criminal, but on Thursday another case
came to light.
Four Iraqi soldiers have been charged with raping a woman, said the
mayor of Tal Afar in northern Iraq, Brigadier General Najim Abdullah
al-Juburi.
He said he received a complaint from a local woman, a mother of 11
children aged in her forties, "a few days ago" and after a brief
investigation had referred the troops to the judiciary for prosecution.
Elsewhere, American commanders were investigating the loss of the latest
in a series of helicopters after a US army Blackhawk came down on
Wednesday in fields north of the capital after coming under fire from
the ground.
"Operation Fardh al-Qanoon" (Imposing Order) has scored some successes.
Murders are down in Baghdad and more than 90,000 US and Iraqi troops
have met only token resistance as they fan out through flashpoint districts.
Three suspected Al-Qaeda insurgents were killed north of Baghdad in
clashes on Thursday and overnight raids in the city netted five members
of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia suspected of kidnapping and murder.
But daily bomb attacks on civilians continue, and the use of chlorine
and anti-aircraft tactics has underlined what US commanders say is the
insurgents' main strength -- an ability rapidly to adapt their strategy.
"One of the things we see as we deal with this is that, as one technique
works in one part of the country, we tend to see copycat attacks in
other parts of the country," said US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris
Garver.
On Tuesday, a truck carrying chlorine gas exploded in Taji, just north
of Baghdad, killing six people on the spot but also poisoning scores
more as the toxic gas spread through the area, overcoming women and
children.
On Wednesday, the dirty bombers struck again, in the suburbs of Baghdad,
in an attack that killed two people and ignited panic.
"The material used is poisonous," said Abdulwahab. "During the explosion
it changes into a mist that spreads through the air, causing poisoning
in the breathing system, breathing difficulties and acute coughing.
"It's the first time we have seen such poisoning cases," he told AFP,
comparing the injuries to the internal burns suffered by children who
drink chlorine-based cleaning products.
Kadhimiya Hospital treated 90 patients poisoned in Tuesday's attack --
seven of whom died -- and 21 more on Wednesday, Abdulwahab said.
The Martyr Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim Hospital in Shula treated 66 cases
after the Taji blast, and all survived, said medical official Abu Murtadha.
Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, the number two US commander in Iraq,
told reporters in Washington via videolink that US forces had found
chlorine in a raid on an insurgent car-bomb factory near the city of
Fallujah on Tuesday.
A pickup truck and three other vehicles in various stages of preparation
as car bombs were also found at the site along with artillery rounds,
mortar rounds, bombs, rockets, and gutted artillery shells, he said.
Odierno also told reporters that specialised Al-Qaeda cells are believed
to be responsible for a spate of shootdowns of US military helicopters
in Iraq and two insurgents have been captured in connection with them.
Eight helicopters, two operated by a private security outfit, have been
lost since January 20.
The latest was a Blackhawk transport that made a "hard landing" north of
Baghdad late Wednesday. The nine personnel on board survived, but the
incident underlined the choppers' increasing vulnerability.
Odierno said insurgents appear to have ambushed at least two or three of
the downed helicopters.
"I think they probably have been trying to do this for a long time, but
my guess is they have a cell out there that is somewhat effective,"
Odierno said.
The general said two people linked to the shoot downs have been captured
but would not comment further.