Baghdad, Iraq – Missiles and mortars struck areas of Baghdad and central Iraq on Saturday where violence and civilian deaths had decreased in recent weeks, raising concerns that insurgents were adapting their strategy to get around an increase in U.S. troops.
At least 14 Iraqis were killed, including seven in a mortar barrage aimed at a Shiite residential area north of Baghdad in the town of Khalis.
Car bombs killed four people in Kirkuk, where a policeman was shot to death earlier in the day, and two were killed in a missile attack on a farming village near Ramadi. The Ramadi attack unleashed panic in an area that had been relatively peaceful in recent weeks, said Juma Salim, a 62-year-old farmer who claimed that the presence of U.S. troops provoked the violence.
Kirkuk has suffered a rash of attacks since insurgents began fleeing the U.S.-led crackdown in Baghdad. Gunmen there killed an Iraqi police lieutenant, and three apparently coordinated car bombs killed four shoppers in a marketplace, including a 4-year-old. Forty-six people were injured.
The Bush administration maintains that security is improving. In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush cited Anbar province, whose capital is Ramadi, as a place where the U.S.-backed Iraqi government is gaining control over a former insurgent stronghold.
“Residents began to provide critical intelligence, and tribesmen joined the Iraqi police and security forces,” the president said, reiterating the view of U.S. military officials here that the troop buildup to nearly 160,000 is giving Iraqis courage to break ranks with insurgents.
