BAGHDAD, 7 October 2004 — A suicide car bomber plowed into an Iraqi military checkpoint northwest of Baghdad yesterday, killing 16 Iraqis and wounding about 30, as US and Iraqi forces sealed off roads south of the capital in a campaign to curb the insurgency before January’s national elections.
There are hopeful signs, meanwhile, that talks may produce a cease-fire agreement with a Shiite militia headed by cleric Moqtada Sadr. A negotiator also reported progress in talks to end the military standoff in Fallujah — the country’s toughest insurgent stronghold and suspected base of Iraq’s most feared terrorist group.
The car bomb attack occurred about 11:15 a.m. at an Iraqi National Guard camp near Anah, 260 kilometers northwest of Baghdad on the main highway to Syria. According to the US military, the camp came under fire and a few minutes later, a vehicle sped to a nearby National Guard checkpoint and exploded.
Dr. Waleed Jawad Qamar of the Anah health clinic said his facility recorded 13 dead and 25 injured. Another hospital in nearby Hadithah reported three dead and five injured. US officials said no Americans were killed or injured but had no report of Iraqi casualties.
Car bombs — some piloted by suicide drivers and others detonated remotely — have become an increasing threat to multinational and Iraqi forces because insurgents find them safer than other forms of attack that can draw devastating American return fire. During the month of September, 29 Iraqi and multinational troops were killed by car bombs, according to the US command which did not break down the figure by nationality.
US and Iraqi forces are trying to restore enough control of this turbulent country so that national elections can be held in January. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi have insisted that the elections — considered a key step toward building Iraqi democracy — must take place throughout the country.
As part of a stepped-up counterinsurgency campaign, more than 3,000 US and Iraqi forces launched a major operation Tuesday to retake control of insurgent-held parts of Babil province. The operation in Babil — notorious for kidnappings and ambushes and home to ancient Babylon — followed last week’s ouster of insurgent forces from Samarra, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad.
Yesterday, American troops and Iraqi National Guardsmen sealed off the roads leading to Qasir town in the Youssifiyah area, about 20 kilometers south of Baghdad.
