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Ansar al-Sunna claims responsibility for Mosul attack on US base
Edited for brevity.A mortar and rocket attack on a U.S. military base in the Iraqi city of Mosul killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 50 on Tuesday in one of the most deadly attacks on U.S. forces since last year's invasion. Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Sunna, a major player in the insurgency against the U.S.-backed government and U.S. forces, said it was behind the attack. A defense official in Washington said it was not clear how many of the casualties were Americans. The attack on a dining hall came at noon when many soldiers at Forward Operating Base Marez, at the northern city's airfield, would have been eating lunch. U.S. military camps in Mosul have tented mess halls seating hundreds of troops. "There were an unknown number of rounds in a rocket and mortar attack," the official said. "We don't know the breakdown (of dead). We don't know if it's U.S., Iraqi, a combination." UPDATE: The Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on the Internet. It said the attack was a "martyrdom operation" targeting a mess hall in the al-Ghizlani camp. Ansar al-Sunna is believed to be a fundamentalist group whose goal is to turn Iraq into a tightly controlled Islamic state like Afghanistan's former Taliban regime. In August, the Sunni Muslim group claimed responsibility for the beheading of 12 Nepalese hostages. It also has claimed responsibility for recent attacks in Mosul. Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, was relatively peaceful in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime last year. But insurgent attacks in the largely Sunni Arab area have increased dramatically in the past year and particularly since the U.S.-led military operation in November to retake the restive city of Fallujah from militants. Posted by: Dar 2004-12-21 |
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