Violence appeared on the rise in Iraq after a day that saw at least 42 people die - numbers that cast in doubt the easing the sectarian deaths that followed a surge of US forces to the country last year.
Iraqi sources confirmed the grisliest attack of Tuesday when 16 passengers on a bus in southern Iraq were killed by a roadside bomb. The US military, however, claimed no one died in the attack, which was targeting a passing military convoy. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
Dr. Hadi Badr al-Riyahi, head of the Nasiriyah provincial health directorate confirmed yesterday that the attack on the bus traveling from Najaf to Basra killed 16 civilians and wounded 20.
At the time, a local policeman and the assistant bus driver also said 16 people were killed.
But Major Brad Leighton, a military spokesman in Baghdad, disputed that claim yesterday, saying only one coalition soldier and one Iraqi civilian were wounded in the attack about 80 km south of Nasiriyah, about 320 km southeast of Baghdad.
At least 26 people were killed on Tuesday in other violence around the country.
The sudden spike comes in the wake of a 60 percent drop in attacks across the country since June, according to US military figures.
According to an Associated Press count, at the height of unrest from November 2006 to August 2007, on average approximately 65 Iraqis died each day as a result of violence. As conditions improved, the daily death toll steadily declined. It reached its lowest point in more than two years on January 2008, when on average 20 Iraqis died each day.
Those numbers have since jumped. In February, approximately 26 Iraqis died each day as a result of violence, and so far in March, that number is up to 39 daily. These figures reflect the months in which people were found, and not necessarily - in the case of mass graves - the months in which they were killed.
Last Thursday, two massive bombs killed 68 people in Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood, while last Monday, two car bombs killed 24 people in the capital.
Military spokesman Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said on Sunday that recent violence should not be taken as evidence of "an increase or a trend of an increase."
"I think we need to continue to look at historically what has happened over the last year to really put in perspective a one-week or two-weeks' worth of activity inside Baghdad," Smith said.
An American soldier died on Tuesday after his patrol was hit by a roadside bomb near Diwaniyah, 130 km south of Baghdad, a day after eight soldiers died in a pair of bomb attacks marking the heaviest single day of US casualties since September.
UK defense chief in Basra
British Defense Secretary Des Browne arrived yesterday in Basra for an unannounced visit to Iraq.
The Ministry of Defense declined to say how long Browne would stay in Iraq.
Britain has 4,100 troops in southern Iraq, although they handed over security duties to Iraqi authorities in December.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said numbers would be reduced to 2,500.
The ministry on Tuesday said officials hoped to reduce troop numbers "over the coming months," but gave no timetable and said the numbers would be decided on the advice of military commanders.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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