Suicide blasts hit Iraq bases

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two suicide bombers set off explosions at U.S. military bases on Tuesday, killing only themselves but injuring several dozen American soldiers on a day that saw a sharp increase in violence around Iraq.

Attackers also fired on a helicopter near Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad where there have been frequent assaults on American soldiers, forcing the craft into an emergency landing, the military reported. The two pilots walked away from the crash.

In western Baghdad, three Iraqis were killed and two others were injured when a Sunni mosque was hit with two explosives, apparently rocket-propelled grenades, after morning prayers near dawn on Tuesday.

Who attacked the Ahbab al-Mustafa mosque was unclear, but many local people blamed Shiite extremists and called for retaliation. Relations between the two sects — and the possibility of violence between them — remain major questions as Iraq moves toward governing itself and shaking off the legacy of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni who brutally suppressed the majority Shiites.

"They are dogs!" wailed one man, who others said lost a brother in the attack, which ripped a 5-foot-square hole in the side of the mosque. "They attacked God's house. Revenge! Revenge!"

Most people here Tuesday said that, as in most of Iraq, relations in the neighborhood between Shiites and Sunnis were generally good, though Sunnis at the mosque said there were a few agitators.

"The people who did this are well known," said Saadi al-Mufraji, 40, a Sunni who is a member of the neighborhood council, without giving specifics. Despite calls at the mosque for revenge, he said he hoped that did not happen. "We have no choice," he said. "We cannot leave this country for them and they cannot leave this country for us."

A recent U.S. military offensive seems to have quieted the Iraqi insurgency for now, with the number of guerrilla attacks dropping by more than half. But commanders have said repeatedly they expect the numbers to rise.

That the attacks on Tuesday did not kill any soldiers seemed due in some degree to good fortune, but also to security that tightened considerably in recent months as the attacks rose to, at times, 50 or more a

day. But the failed attacks on the military could presage another wave of attacks against "soft" targets: Iraqi policemen and politicians as well as foreign civilians working with contracting companies or aid groups.