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Chemical Attack in Iraq Makes Hundreds Ill

The US military said, Saturday, that a suicide attack in the Anbar province of Iraq, in which 3 chlorine-filled truck were detonated, resulted in the death of two police officers and sickened 350 Iraqis and 6 coalition force members. The trucks exploded during Friday in three different locations in the Falluja area. Chlorine has been used in suicide car bombings in Anbar 5 times, during the past two months.

On Saturday, a US soldier was shot dead, in Baquba, capital of the Diyala province. In addition, two Iraqi police officers were killed in two separate blasts in Iraq. The death toll of American GIs in Iraq has reached 3,205 US, as well as, 7 civilian Defense Department contractors.

On Thursday, the Pentagon released a report stating that the situation in Iraq has many if the characteristics of civil war. Up to now, the American government had been reluctant to use that term. The report also showed that the number of terror attacks in Iraq during the last quarter of 2006, has been the highest yet, with an average of one thousand attacks a week, as opposed to 800 a week, during May to August. The report also stated that though most of the attacks staged were targeted at coalition forces, most of the casualties were Iraqi civilians. The report cited a poll, in which two-thirds of Iraqis stated they believed the security situation in Iraq is getting worst. The report added that every month 9 thousand Iraqis flee their country.