AMERICAN commanders are fully aware that Iraq’s insurgents exploit their policy of employing locals on US military bases, but insist the practice will not stop.

The US army swept through the Iraqi city of Mosul today after after an insurgent strike on a military base killed 22 people and injured 72 in one of the deadliest attacks on American troops since the war began.

The US military launched an investigation today into the cause of a devastating blast in a mess tent at a base in northern Iraq which killed 22 people and injured 72 in one of the deadliest attacks since the start of the war.

A MORTAR and rocket attack on a US military dining hall killed 24 people and wounded more than 60 in Iraq's northern city of Mosul yesterday in one of the deadliest attacks on American forces since the war began.