BAGHDAD – Four years into the war that opened with “shock and awe,” U.S. warplanes have again stepped up attacks in Iraq, dropping bombs at more than twice the rate of a year ago.
The airpower reflects increased availability of planes from U.S. aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. And it appears to be accompanied by a rise in Iraqi civilian casualties.
In the first 41/2 months of 2007, American aircraft dropped 237 bombs and missiles in support of ground forces in Iraq, already surpassing the 229 expended in all of 2006, according to U.S. Air Force figures.
A second U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on station since February in the Persian Gulf has added about 80 warplanes to the U.S. air arsenal in the region.
Air Force figures show that, after the thousands of bombs and missiles used in the 2003 invasion, U.S. airpower settled down to a slower bombing pace: 285 munitions dropped in 2004, 404 in 2005 and 229 in 2006, totals that don’t include warplanes’ often-devastating 20mm and 30mm cannon or rocket fire, or Marine Corps aircraft.
At the same time, the number of civilian Iraqi casualties from U.S. airstrikes appears to have risen sharply, according to Iraq Body Count, a London-based, anti-war research group.
The rate of such reported civilian deaths appeared to climb steadily through 2006, the group reported, averaging just a few a month in early 2006, hitting about 40 a month by year’s end, and averaging more than 50 a month so far this year. The count is regarded as conservative, since it doesn’t include deaths missed by the international media, the research group said.
In Iraq on Tuesday, guards gunned down a woman at a police recruiting station Tuesday, and the suicide bomber’s device then exploded before their eyes.
But another bomber succeeded, killing at least 18 people at a gathering of tribal leaders opposed to al-Qaida in Amiriyah, a town on the outskirts of Fallujah.
In all, at least 90 Iraqis were killed or found dead Tuesday.
Gen. David Petraeus, overall U.S. commander in Iraq, noted that the number of sectarian killings had fallen off after the “surge” of an additional 30,000 U.S. troops began in February, an effort to restore order in Baghdad and nearby areas. But the number rose in May, he acknowledged.
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