At least 22 die in attack on US-Iraqi base

At least 22 people were killed and 50 wounded today in an attack at a US and Iraqi base near the northern city of Mosul.

A US Defence Department official said unknown assailants used rockets and mortars to attack a US and Iraqi forward operating base in Mosul.

The official said it was believed that a dining hall at the base was struck.

It was unknown whether the casualties were US or Iraqi personnel, the official said. The base is used jointly by the US military and Iraqi National Guard.

The US Army’s Task Force Olympia is based in the predominantly Sunni Muslim city.

Mosul was the scene of the deadliest single incident for US troops since the attack on Iraq last year.

On November 15, 2003, two Black Hawk helicopters collided in mid-air over the city, killing 17 soldiers and injuring five. The crash occurred as the two choppers manoeuvred to avoid ground fire from insurgents.

Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, was relatively peaceful in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime last year. But insurgent attacks have increased dramatically in the past several months and particularly since the US-led military operation in November to retake the restive city of Fallujah from guerrillas.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi security forces repelled another attack by insurgents as they attempted to seize a police station in the centre of the city, the US military said in a statement.

“An Iraqi police station came under attack by indirect and small arms fire during a co-ordinated effort by insurgent fighters to overrun the station in central Mosul,” the statement said. “The Iraqi police successfully repelled the attack.”

Hundreds of students demonstrated in the centre of the city, demanding that US troops cease breaking into homes and mosques in the city.