Maj. Gen. Michael Barbero, deputy director for regional operations in the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, told a press conference that "high profile attacks" involving suicide vests and car bombs were on the rise, and pointed to the increasing use of chlorine bombs by Sunni extremists. (Click here for audio/podcast version of Barbero's remarks).
"Chlorine is a poison gas. It is a poison gas being used on the Iraqi people. Before these attacks, the last time poison gas was used on the Iraqi people was by Saddam Hussein," Barbero said.
In 1988, under Saddam's rule, 5,600 Kurdish villagers perished in a mustard gas attack in northern Iraq, part of the larger Anfal campaign that killed about 100,000 Kurds. Saddam was charged with genocide for his role in the attacks, though he was executed before the case could be fully prosecuted in court.
Earlier Friday, a Marine commander told reporters, "What you have to understand is that chlorine bombs have more of a psychological effect than they do as a killing effect," the AP reports. Insurgents have launched at least eight chlorine gas attacks lately, including one in Fallujah Wednesday.
"If they'll resort to this, they'll resort to anything," Barbero said.
Barbero also mentioned two recent attacks where children were used as suicide bombers. A teenage boy was killed instantly March 21 in Haditha when a bomb in his backpack detonated, as police pursued a suspicious vehicle nearby, Reuters reported. Days earlier, in Baghdad, a bomb detonated in a car carrying three children in the backseat.
While attacks targeting coalition forces were up, Barbero said the security crackdown had led to 30 percent fewer civilian deaths in Iraq and 50 percent fewer in Baghdad compared to the six weeks preceding the crackdown.
