Bridges closed as US forces seek Mosul bombers

US FORCES sealed off entire districts of the Iraqi city of Mosul yesterday, blocking bridges and raiding homes in a hunt for suspects after an attack that killed 18 Americans and four other people.

Mosul’s governor issued an overnight order on television banning use of the five bridges over the River Tigris 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.

FBI and other experts flown in from Baghdad were “in the middle of” determining what caused Tuesday’s explosion at the Marez base in Mosul, Lieutenant-General Thomas Metz said. “If it was a bomb, I think they’ll be able to figure out the size and the kinds of materials that were put into it,” he told CNN. The military declined comment on an ABC television report that investigators found evidence a suicide bomber carried out the deadliest attack on Americans since they invaded Iraq.

“Investigators at the base have found remnants of a torso and a suicide vest that was probably a backpack,” ABC said, lending weight to a claim by Iraq’s Ansar al-Sunna guerrillas. A US spokesman in Mosul, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings, said: “It is still under investigation.” The US military has revised its description of the 22 people killed, saying 13 were American soldiers, not 14 as previously reported. It said that the others were five US civilians, three Iraqi National Guards and a non-American - as yet unidentified.

US officials initially said rocket and mortar rounds were fired but Ansar al-Sunna credited one of its “martyrs” and the US commander in Mosul said there was only one explosion.

“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, aged 25, a Mosul car dealer too anxious to give his surname.

“The place is shut down,” said another resident, adding mosques and markets were virtually empty.

The attack has raised fears of a guerrilla offensive before next month’s election, six weeks after US troops stormed the rebel stronghold of Fallujah in a bid to crush the insurgency. Hitherto quiet Mosul has seen near anarchy since.

“We conducted our operations last night as we planned,” Let Gen Metz said. “We’re pushing on toward the elections.”

Witnesses said US forces, backed by Iraqi National Guards, sealed off neighbourhoods in western and southeastern Mosul and raided homes. “They’re looking in the areas that are known hotspots.” Forty-four of the revised toll of 69 wounded were US soldiers. Some were taken to a military hospital in Germany, eight in critical condition, hospital staff said.

President George W Bush, who said on Monday the bombers were taking a toll, sent his condolences to the families.

He called Iraq “a vital mission for peace” as a new poll showed most Americans believe the war was not worth it.