US forces sealed off entire districts of the Iraqi city of Mosul today and raided homes in a hunt for suspects following a guerrilla attack that killed 18 Americans and four Iraqis. Mosul's governor issued an order banning the use of the five bridges that span the River Tigris in the city, and said anyone breaking the order would be shot. Residents said Iraq's third city was a virtual ghost town, with no one in the streets. The order from Governor Duraid Kashmoula was broadcast on local television and came into effect at 4am (Noon AEDT). Military investigators are still probing whether yesterday's attack on a mess tent at the Marez US base in Mosul was a mortar strike or possibly even a suicide bomber. It was the deadliest attack on Americans since they invaded last year.
In Mosul, people were afraid. "Students went to school but were told to go home. People went to the shops, saw American troops in the streets, and went home," said Ahmad, 25, a car dealer who declined to give his surname. "The place is shut down," said another resident, adding that mosques and markets were also virtually empty. The US military said a 9pm to 5am curfew, imposed several weeks ago, remained in place and confirmed it had stepped up operations in the search for suspects. "We are conducting offensive operations to target specific objectives," Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings, a spokesman for US forces in the area, said. Witnesses said US forces, backed by Iraqi National Guards, sealed off parts of western and south-eastern Mosul and raided homes. "They're looking in the areas that are known hotspots," one resident in the west of the city said.
Hastings said the cause of the explosion was still unknown. US officials initially said a number of rocket and mortar rounds were fired at a mess tent in south-west Mosul, but a militant group claimed a suicide bomber was behind the attack. A further 72 people were wounded. "A suicide bomber has not been ruled out," a US Army official in Washington said late yesterday. |