Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Bombers kill 18 children as U.S. spy chief admits to civil war in Iraq
Security
(AFP) Bombers slaughtered 18 Iraqi children playing football on Tuesday as a relentless bombing spree snuffed out dozens more lives and a US spy chief acknowledged that the crisis amounts to "civil war". The children, aged between 10 and 15, died when a car parked next to a football pitch in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi exploded while they were playing, an Iraqi defence official told AFP. Around 20 more children were wounded in the latest attack in the restive western city, a hotbed of the anti-US insurgency which is fast also becoming a battlefront between rival Sunni factions, the official said.
In another bloody bomb attack, a suicide bomber rammed a truck into the Sheikh Fathi police station in the main northern city of Mosul and detonated explosives, killing at least six policemen, police said. A spate of bomb and mortar attacks in and around Baghdad killed 16 more people, including two civilians who died when a hidden bomb ripped through a budget restaurant frequented by Shiite labourers.
In Washington, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told senators that the crisis was "moving in a negative direction" and that "the term 'civil war' accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict. Unless efforts to reverse these conditions gain real traction during the 12-18 month time frame ... we assess that the security situation will continue to deteriorate at rates comparable to the latter half of 2006," he said.
More arrests followed on Tuesday in a separate part of the security plan when Iraqi army special forces and US advisers swooped on suspected Shiite militia hideouts in the east Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.
In another bloody bomb attack, a suicide bomber rammed a truck into the Sheikh Fathi police station in the main northern city of Mosul and detonated explosives, killing at least six policemen, police said. A spate of bomb and mortar attacks in and around Baghdad killed 16 more people, including two civilians who died when a hidden bomb ripped through a budget restaurant frequented by Shiite labourers.
In Washington, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told senators that the crisis was "moving in a negative direction" and that "the term 'civil war' accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict. Unless efforts to reverse these conditions gain real traction during the 12-18 month time frame ... we assess that the security situation will continue to deteriorate at rates comparable to the latter half of 2006," he said.
More arrests followed on Tuesday in a separate part of the security plan when Iraqi army special forces and US advisers swooped on suspected Shiite militia hideouts in the east Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.
Labels: civil war, Michael McConnell, Ramadi
