A volley of evening suicide bombs devastated the centre of the mainly Shia town of Balad, killing at least 60 people and injuring 70 others, as United States top brass admitted there were fewer Iraqi troops capable of fighting insurgents than previously claimed.
Three suicide car bombers struck almost simultaneously shortly before sunset, as residents thronged the main shopping area in Balad, which lies about 80km north of Baghdad and is also home to a huge US airbase. It was the latest sign of escalating violence in Iraq ahead of a vote on a new Constitution due on October 15.
Witnesses said the bombers targeted a vegetable market, a bank, and another building. Police said the timing of the attacks was unusual.
Most suicide bombers strike in the morning. Hospital officials said they expected the death toll to rise.
No immediate claim was made for the attacks, which brought the death toll in the last four days in Iraq to at least 140, including 13 US soldiers.
On Thursday the US military announced the death of five soldiers who were killed by a roadside bomb in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, US generals reporting to the Senate in Washington said that the number of Iraqi troops capable of fighting the insurgency without US support has dropped from three battalions to one in the past three months.
General George Casey’s admission called into question claims by the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, that the US and its allies are making progress against the Iraqi insurgency.
Casey, testifying to Congress, toned down his earlier prediction of a ”fairly substantial” US troop withdrawals next year. On Thursday, he said only that: ”The possibility for condition-based reductions of coalition forces still exists in 2006.”
Under intense questioning by Senator John McCain, a Republican in favour of reinforcing the US troop presence in Iraq, Casey conceded that there was only one Iraqi battalion with ”level one” training — the capacity to mount counter-insurgency operations on its own — compared to the three claimed in a Pentagon report in June. ”We fully recognise that Iraqi armed forces will not have an independent capability for some time, because they don’t have the institutional base to support them,” the general told Congress.
But he was unclear on the reasons for the apparent decline in Iraqi military readiness.
He said: ”We’re making assessments on personnel, on leadership, on training. There are a lot of variables that are involved here.”
Casey said the average 20th century counter-insurgency lasted nine years. ”And there is no reason that we should believe that the insurgency in Iraq will take any less time to deal with.”
The scale of the task ahead is underscored in the daily attacks and clashes that pepper Baghdad and large parts of provincial Iraq.
On Thursday violence in Baghdad — including attacks on a Shia bakery, a bus carrying government workers and on police vehicles — killed 12 people, including four police officers.
US and Iraqi officials this week claimed a significant breakthrough in their battle against militants in Iraq, but warned extremists were planning further violence to dissuade Iraqis from voting in the constitutional referendum. – Guardian Unlimited Â