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Elusive suicide bombers threaten Iraq's future
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-10 23:39

They do not fear death -- they seek it. Striking at will, they kill or maim with thousands of pieces of shrapnel. Once they are spotted, it is too late.

Suicide bombers threaten to keep Iraq unstable, challenging a new government that has promised to impose security after two years of bloodshed.

Militants struck again in central Baghdad on Tuesday, reinforcing concerns that suicide bombs could trigger a sectarian civil war.

One blew up his vehicle near a US army convoy, killing eight Iraqis and wounding 23, police said.

Hours later, a second bomber detonated his car outside a base on the banks of the Tigris in Baghdad for police who patrol the river. Three policemen were wounded.

Police sealed off the areas but the assailants were ripped apart as shrapnel flew in every direction, leaving few clues.

Suicide bombings have escalated sharply over the last two weeks, killing hundreds of people, from policemen on patrol to civilians at a crowded vegetable market. There are no signs the supply of people willing to blow themselves up is decreasing.

Officials believe militants cross Iraq's porous borders from across the Arab world then join a murky guerrilla network bent on driving out US troops and eliminating Iraqi security forces, who have lost hundreds of comrades to suicide bombings.

Western security companies say the bombers quickly adapt tactics to evade the authorities. Four militants rather than one sometimes drive a single car bomb to try to fool police.

Some now shave off their long beards -- a sign that identifies them as radical Muslims -- before launching attacks.

INSPIRED BY ZARQAWI

According to videos released by insurgents to recruit suicide bombers, their journey to death often starts in the desert, where final prayers are said and fighters embrace before embarking on their missions.

Some drive cars packed with bombs. Others strap themselves with explosives in attacks similar to one that killed as many as 60 in the city of Arbil last week.

Iraqi officials say the network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, is behind most suicide bombings.

While Iraqi officials believe mostly foreigners are involved in suicide bombings, they say Zarqawi also has Iraqi supporters.

His group warned on Tuesday of more attacks and said they would be carried out by both foreign militants and Iraqis.

"The martyrs of the coming days will be ... from the sons of Iraq and the muhajirun (from abroad) who both belong to the same religion," Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq said on a Web site.

Armed with a burning desire for martyrdom, militants are pressurising a government which has yet to announce a plan to end the carnage. Some officials say it is impossible to stop suicide bombers.

Standing with shrapnel in his leg after one of the bombings on Tuesday, Sadik Mustafa described a familiar pattern of death.

"A red Opel stopped here. Police arrived and asked why it stopped here. Then, when US armoured vehicles passed, it exploded," he said.

On Saturday, two suicide car bombers attacked a foreign security convoy on the same street, killing at least 22 people.

Mehdi Daoud, who works for a transport company, says he doesn't bother trying to figure out which roads are risky.

"No roads in Iraq are safe. Suicide bombers can attack at any time. Every Iraqi has just become a sacrifice," he said.

Policemen like Hussein Jaber feel especially vulnerable. He gets nervous every time he scans the traffic" "How can we do anything when we have no information on suicide bombers? How will we know they are coming?"



 
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