The U.S. military reports a 30 percent increase in insurgency attacks during the second half of October. Officials said that until Ramadan, violence had decreased throughout most if Iraq. U.S. officials attributed the increase in attacks to the Islamic fast month of Ramadan as well as to the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. The officials said the Iraqi insurgency has been bolstered by fresh funding and orders from within and outside of Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. "We've known that money has come in from Iran and money has come in from Syria," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
"Symbolically, it's been a time, as we experienced last year, for increased attacks against the multinational forces." U.S. Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, deputy operations director of the Multinational Force Iraq, said. "The fortunate thing is that these attacks have been less lethal than we anticipated." In an interview with the Pentagon Channel, Lessel cited an increase in the number of indirect-fire attacks and car bombings throughout Iraq. He attributed the rise in insurgency strikes to both Ramadan as well as U.S. national elections in November. Officials said that until Ramadan, most of Iraq underwent a decrease in violence. They said 10 out of 18 Iraqi provinces reported an average of less than one attack per day from June until Oct. 15, 2004. Four provinces reported between two and four attacks daily. |