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U.S. warns on insurgents' tactics

The military say attacks with chlorine gas may be part of a change.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 23, 2007

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military warned Thursday that insurgents are adopting new tactics in a campaign to spread panic after troops uncovered a car bomb factory with propane tanks and chlorine cylinders - possible ingredients for more chemical attacks following three explosions involving chlorine.

Those blasts and a recent spate of attacks against helicopters have raised fears that insurgents are trying to develop new ways to confront U.S. and Iraqi forces. Any increase in chemical bombings could complicate the Baghdad security crackdown, now in its second week.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq, said he did not think the attacks signaled a more capable insurgency. Instead, he said they were an attempt to provoke fear.

"What they're trying to do is ... adapt in such ways where they can continue to create instability," Odierno said.

The general also said at least two suspects had been arrested in the downing of eight helicopters since Jan. 20.

The raid on the car bomb factory occurred late Tuesday in the town of Karmah, 50 miles west of Baghdad in the volatile western province of Anbar, U.S. authorities said. U.S. troops discovered a pickup truck and three other vehicles that were being prepared as car bombs, as well as chlorine cylinders and other detonation material in five buildings.

Insurgents have detonated three trucks carrying chlorine canisters since late January. The most recent attack occurred Wednesday in Baghdad, killing five people and sending more than 55 to hospitals. On Tuesday, a bomb planted on a chlorine tanker left more than 150 villagers stricken north of the capital.

Although relatively few people have been killed or seriously injured in the chlorine blasts, such attacks are unnerving and can cause panic.

With low levels of exposure, chlorine, which was used as a weapon in World War I, can cause breathing problems and irritate the skin. At high levels, it is fatal.

Elsewhere, Sunni insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked U.S. troops in the volatile city of Ramadi, setting off a six-hour firefight that killed at least 12 people, the U.S. military said Thursday. Iraqi authorities said the dead included women and children.

One U.S. soldier was killed and three others were wounded in a roadside bombing Thursday near the Shiite city of Diwaniyah, the U.S. command said.

Nationwide, at least 19 people were killed or found dead.

[Last modified February 23, 2007, 01:18:17]