- Title: IRAQ: U.S. COMMANDER COLONEL PITTARD VISITS VICTIMS OF BOMB ATTACK IN BAQUBA
- Date: 29th March 2004
- Summary: (W6) BAQUBA, IRAQ (MARCH 29, 204) (REUTERS) 1. U.S. COMMANDER AND SOLDIERS ARRIVING AT BAQUBA HOSPITAL 0.07 2. U.S. SOLDIERS ENTERING HOSPITAL 0.16 3. INJURED MEMBER OF IRAQI CIVIL DEFENCE CORPS (ICDC) ON BED AT HOSPITAL/ HIS MOTHER NEAR HIS BED 0.28 4. U.S. SOLDIERS STANDING GUARD AT HOSPITAL WARD DOOR 0.31 5. COLONEL PITTA
- Embargoed: 13th April 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAQUBA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA7KS199T4PUVPEQ57MTPIU5U0L
- Story Text: U.S. commander visits victims of bomb attack in
Baquba.
U.S. commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry
Division Colonel Pittard on Monday (March 29) visited
Baquba Hospital where the victims of Sunday's bomb attack
are being treated.
One civil defence personnel and three civilians --
including two children -- were injured in the attack that
targeted the civil defence house in the restive northern
town of Baquba.
Colonel Pittard toured wards of the hospital, inquiring
about their health conditions.
Colonel Pittard said the attackers were shifting their
techniques towards "soft targets" as they become more
desperate.
"The enemies of peace are truly getting desperate where
they have to do like this, they are trying to attack what
we call soft targets. They cannot fight with us apparently
with any kind of success," Pittard said.
He said this change of technique, however, showed the
success achieved by the coalition forces.
"They fear Iraqis taking a stand as far as security, so
I think it shows that we are moving on the right direction
as far as success."
Some 200,000 Iraqis are serving in the country's
security forces, which include an army, police, border
guards and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, or ICDC.
Guerrillas view them as collaborators with the U.S.-led
occupation, and they often make easier targets because they
are less well-armed and protected than the U.S. troops who
sometimes accompany them on patrols.
Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, is in a
largely Sunni Muslim area and is a hotbed of resistance to
the U.S.-led occupation.
U.S. forces have mounted major operations in and around
the town to capture insurgents and quell resistance.
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