WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- A U.S. general said Friday in Washington the Baghdad security plan is yielding early results but there has been an increase in suicide bombers.
The U.S. numbers come as Iraq has expereinced one of its bloodiest weeks ever, with nearly 400 civilians killed.
The surge of U.S. and Iraqi troops into Baghdad, begun six weeks ago, has resulted in a 20 percent drop in attacks on civilians and a 30 percent drop in civilian fatalities. Inside the capital city, civilian fatalities are down 50 percent, said Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, Joint Staff deputy director for operations at a Pentagon press briefing.
He said the 30 percent increase in suicide vest and car bombs across the country over the last six weeks have been less effective than they were prior, a subjective assessment that he said that was based on whether the bomb got to its intended target and whether it achieved the casualties. Most lately have targeted markets and religious centers in what U.S. military intelligence officials believe to be an attempt to provoke retaliatory killings to continue the cycle of violence in Iraq.
Some of the bombers were intercepted at the increased number of U.S. and Iraqi-run checkpoints. Among them were three more chlorine truck bomb attacks in the last week in Anbar province. Two exploded March 28, injuring 14 Americans and 57 Iraqi army soldiers. The third was intercepted March 23 by Iraqi police in Fallujah with 5,000 gallons of chlorine and a ton of explosives.
Barbero also said a 14-year-old boy riding a bike in Haditha was killed when a bomb in his backpack detonated next to an Iraqi police convoy.
He said the continued victimization of children and the use of chlorine gas bombs discredits Sunni and al-Qaida in Iraq propaganda that claims the insurgents are part of an "honorable resistance."
