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http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/iraq/2007/11/18/50427.html
US Says Iraq Attacks Down 55 Percent
Sunday, November 18, 2007
BAGHDAD -- Violence is down 55 percent in Iraq since a U.S.-Iraqi security
operation began this summer, U.S. officials said Sunday, even as at least 15
Iraqis were reported killed in bombings and shootings.
The dead included three children who were killed as they gathered around
American troops who were handing out toys and sports equipment.
The officials cautioned it was too early to credit Tehran with the recent
lull in overall violence, despite recent optimism that Iran was stemming its
support for Shiite militia fighters.
"It's unclear to us what role the Iranians might have had in these
developments, if any," said Philip Reeker, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy
in Baghdad, at a news conference in the U.S.-guarded Green Zone.
"It's difficult to read trends in reductions," he said. "To draw direct
lines from that data _ to say that there are fewer attacks and conclude that
there's a particular reason for it. Vis-a-vis Iran's action, that is
something we're not yet prepared to do."
Washington has accused Iran of training, arming and funding Shiite
extremists inside Iraq. But in recent weeks, U.S. officials have said Tehran
appears to have halted the flow of arms across its border into Iraq.
New attacks underscored the continuing security threats facing Iraqis.
A parked car bomb exploded in a predominantly Shiite area in central
Baghdad, killing at least seven people, wounding 12 and damaging several
cars and stores, police said.
A deputy finance minister who was the intended target of the attack escaped
injury, police said, but two guards were wounded.
Nationwide, police reported at least 15 people killed in attacks including
three children hit by a roadside bomb that exploded as they gathered around
U.S. soldiers distributing toys and sports equipment in a playground west of
Baqouba.
Overall, attacks in Iraq have fallen 55 percent since nearly 30,000
additional U.S. reinforcements arrived in Iraq by June, said Rear Adm.
Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman. Some areas are at their lowest
levels of violence since the summer of 2005, he said.
Iraqi civilian casualties are down 60 percent across the country since June,
and the figure for Baghdad was even better _ 75 percent, Smith said.
Nevertheless, the U.S. military said several rocket and mortar barrages hit
U.S. bases in Baghdad overnight.
"The fight we're up against has not gone away. Today's mortar and rocket
attacks demonstrate that the enemy has the capacity to wage violence," Smith
said. "We're working our way through those attacks and the level of damage."
He said Iranian interference continued to be a problem for Iraq's stability.
"Make no doubt...Iran has been the principle supplier of weapons, arms,
training and funding of many militia groups," Smith told reporters. "That
has not changed."
Smith said "a large number of Iranian weapons still exist here in Iraq" and
how much Iran has stopped "training, equipping, financing and resourcing has
yet to be witnessed or determined on the battlefield, but the trends are
going in the right direction."
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged the Iraqi government
not to follow up on the U.S. accusations.
"Since the beginning, the United States has raised baseless accusations
against Iran," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told
reporters.
On Saturday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iran was now
limiting its support to fighters in Iraq, and urged Tehran and the U.S. to
take advantage and hold a new round of talks on improving the situation in
the country.
Since May, Iran, the U.S. and Iraq have held three rounds of talks in
Baghdad.
Reeker said Sunday that he expected another round of talks soon, but no date
had been set. "That channel remains open," he told reporters.
Reeker said future talks would address Washington's "concerns with Iranian
activities that detract from security in Iraq."
Also Sunday, Iraqi police said bombs planted along Iraq's roads and in a
parked car killed at least four people in separate attacks.
Explosives hidden in a parked car went off around 11 a.m. near an Iraqi
police patrol in Mosul, killing three civilian bystanders and wounding at
least 16 people, according to police Brig. Mohammed al-Wagga. Five of those
wounded were policemen, he said.
The blast caused damage to retail shops in the Dawasa neighborhood, and
about 15 cars were burned, al-Wagga said. Mosul lies about 225 miles
northwest of Baghdad.
Farther south in Tikrit, a mostly Sunni Muslim town 80 miles north of
Baghdad, a bomb exploded inside a police station, killing one policeman and
wounding two others, according to police and doctors at a nearby hospital.
The officers had discovered the bomb on a downtown street and thought they
had defused it, police said. Afterward, they brought the bomb to a station
for further examination, and it exploded.
In Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near a gas station as people were
lining up to buy fuel at the start of the work week. Three civilians were
wounded, police said.
About half an hour earlier, another roadside bomb struck an American
military patrol in a northeastern section of the Iraqi capital, police said.
The U.S. military confirmed the attack, saying an American vehicle was
damaged and that there were no reports of casualties.
US Says Iraq Attacks Down 55 Percent
Sunday, November 18, 2007
BAGHDAD -- Violence is down 55 percent in Iraq since a U.S.-Iraqi security
operation began this summer, U.S. officials said Sunday, even as at least 15
Iraqis were reported killed in bombings and shootings.
The dead included three children who were killed as they gathered around
American troops who were handing out toys and sports equipment.
The officials cautioned it was too early to credit Tehran with the recent
lull in overall violence, despite recent optimism that Iran was stemming its
support for Shiite militia fighters.
"It's unclear to us what role the Iranians might have had in these
developments, if any," said Philip Reeker, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy
in Baghdad, at a news conference in the U.S.-guarded Green Zone.
"It's difficult to read trends in reductions," he said. "To draw direct
lines from that data _ to say that there are fewer attacks and conclude that
there's a particular reason for it. Vis-a-vis Iran's action, that is
something we're not yet prepared to do."
Washington has accused Iran of training, arming and funding Shiite
extremists inside Iraq. But in recent weeks, U.S. officials have said Tehran
appears to have halted the flow of arms across its border into Iraq.
New attacks underscored the continuing security threats facing Iraqis.
A parked car bomb exploded in a predominantly Shiite area in central
Baghdad, killing at least seven people, wounding 12 and damaging several
cars and stores, police said.
A deputy finance minister who was the intended target of the attack escaped
injury, police said, but two guards were wounded.
Nationwide, police reported at least 15 people killed in attacks including
three children hit by a roadside bomb that exploded as they gathered around
U.S. soldiers distributing toys and sports equipment in a playground west of
Baqouba.
Overall, attacks in Iraq have fallen 55 percent since nearly 30,000
additional U.S. reinforcements arrived in Iraq by June, said Rear Adm.
Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman. Some areas are at their lowest
levels of violence since the summer of 2005, he said.
Iraqi civilian casualties are down 60 percent across the country since June,
and the figure for Baghdad was even better _ 75 percent, Smith said.
Nevertheless, the U.S. military said several rocket and mortar barrages hit
U.S. bases in Baghdad overnight.
"The fight we're up against has not gone away. Today's mortar and rocket
attacks demonstrate that the enemy has the capacity to wage violence," Smith
said. "We're working our way through those attacks and the level of damage."
He said Iranian interference continued to be a problem for Iraq's stability.
"Make no doubt...Iran has been the principle supplier of weapons, arms,
training and funding of many militia groups," Smith told reporters. "That
has not changed."
Smith said "a large number of Iranian weapons still exist here in Iraq" and
how much Iran has stopped "training, equipping, financing and resourcing has
yet to be witnessed or determined on the battlefield, but the trends are
going in the right direction."
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged the Iraqi government
not to follow up on the U.S. accusations.
"Since the beginning, the United States has raised baseless accusations
against Iran," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told
reporters.
On Saturday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iran was now
limiting its support to fighters in Iraq, and urged Tehran and the U.S. to
take advantage and hold a new round of talks on improving the situation in
the country.
Since May, Iran, the U.S. and Iraq have held three rounds of talks in
Baghdad.
Reeker said Sunday that he expected another round of talks soon, but no date
had been set. "That channel remains open," he told reporters.
Reeker said future talks would address Washington's "concerns with Iranian
activities that detract from security in Iraq."
Also Sunday, Iraqi police said bombs planted along Iraq's roads and in a
parked car killed at least four people in separate attacks.
Explosives hidden in a parked car went off around 11 a.m. near an Iraqi
police patrol in Mosul, killing three civilian bystanders and wounding at
least 16 people, according to police Brig. Mohammed al-Wagga. Five of those
wounded were policemen, he said.
The blast caused damage to retail shops in the Dawasa neighborhood, and
about 15 cars were burned, al-Wagga said. Mosul lies about 225 miles
northwest of Baghdad.
Farther south in Tikrit, a mostly Sunni Muslim town 80 miles north of
Baghdad, a bomb exploded inside a police station, killing one policeman and
wounding two others, according to police and doctors at a nearby hospital.
The officers had discovered the bomb on a downtown street and thought they
had defused it, police said. Afterward, they brought the bomb to a station
for further examination, and it exploded.
In Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near a gas station as people were
lining up to buy fuel at the start of the work week. Three civilians were
wounded, police said.
About half an hour earlier, another roadside bomb struck an American
military patrol in a northeastern section of the Iraqi capital, police said.
The U.S. military confirmed the attack, saying an American vehicle was
damaged and that there were no reports of casualties.
