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December 23, 2004THE MILITARY
Suicide Bombing Is Now Suspected in Mosul AttackBy RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and ERIC SCHMITT

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 22 - A suicide attacker wearing a bomb-laden vest most likely set off the explosion at a military mess tent that killed 22 in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, American officials said Wednesday, raising the possibility that the bomber was an Iraqi or foreign worker employed at the base.
"At this point it looks like it was an improvised explosive device worn by an attacker," Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference.
In the hours after the explosion, which included 14 American troops and four American civilian contractors among the dead, military officials speculated that the blast was caused by a rocket.
But F.B.I. and other allied forensic experts later discovered parts of a torso and an explosives belt that they believed were from a suicide bomber, according to a senior law enforcement official in Washington.
A senior defense official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because the broader investigation is in progress, added that investigators found "material consistent with a backpack or suicide vest, as well as ball bearings," which bombers have used to spread the devastation of the blast.
In the hours before the news conference, soldiers from at least two battalions in Mosul riding in armored vehicles fanned out in a broad offensive sweep to hunt for insurgent and terrorist leaders, shutting down bridges over the Tigris River, searching insurgent-friendly neighborhoods and interrogating drivers at impromptu checkpoints.
The governor of Nineveh Province also appeared on Mosul television to warn residents of a crackdown, though American officials maintained that it was not related to the bombing. The governor said anyone who tried to cross the bridges over the river, which bisects the city, would face a "hard punishment" that could include being shot.
Late on Wednesday, another car bomb killed 9 Iraqis and wounded 13 others at an Iraqi forces checkpoint at the entrance to the town of Latifiya, south of Baghdad, the National Guard told Reuters. That area is among the most violent and insecure as the country prepares for elections at the end of January.
The announcement on Wednesday of the likely cause of the Mosul attack produced a new source of concern by leaving a crucial question unanswered: How was the attacker able to infiltrate a heavily guarded military base in one of the most hostile regions of Iraq?
It also raised the possibility that one of the most commonly discussed fears of American soldiers stationed at forward operating bases in Iraq had come true - that an Iraqi or other foreign worker had been able through special access, knowledge and privileges to sabotage the troops he was supposed to be serving.
Other heavily guarded compounds have been infiltrated, including the main American governmental zone in Baghdad, where suicide bombers killed five people in October. But the attack on Tuesday far exceeded the size and devastation of any previous strike on American troops within a secured compound.
"I've been expecting it," said Wayne Downing , a retired four-star Army general who headed the inquiry into the bombing at the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia in 1996. "They're trying to get in. We have a terrible problem. We have all this indigenous labor. We don't wash our dishes, cook our own food. When you bring indigenous laborers into camps, you immediately have a security problem."
No Iraqis are currently working at the mess tent, said Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, whose KBR subsidiary operates dining halls for the military. In an e-mail message, she said that vetting for employees who worked at the site was "conducted entirely by the United States Army, and KBR security escorts them through the process."
Military officials had received intelligence that insurgents in Mosul might have been planning an attack on American troops. In late November, soldiers from the same base that was hit on Monday - Forward Operating Base Marez - detained a suspect in western Mosul carrying what military officials said appeared to be notes of a meeting where insurgents discussed a proposal for a large-scale attack on American troops.
At the news conference on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, emphasized the difficulty American troops faced defending against suicide bombers.
"Someone who's attacking can attack at any place at any time using any technique, and it is an enormous challenge to provide force protection, something that our forces worry about, work on constantly," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
The militant Sunni group that took credit for the attack, Ansar al-Sunna, said that that one of its members carried out a "martyrdom operation" against forces it described as infidels and occupiers.
The finding that the explosion was probably caused by a suicide bomber was first reported by ABC News.
Investigators say the bomb appeared to have been laced with ball bearings or similar projectiles that punctured steel appliances and other surfaces near the blast, which occurred near the serving line.
The Marez base is home to about 3,500 troops, most of them attached to the Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based in Fort Lewis, Wash.
Initially, the military had said that as many as 19 American service members and 5 others had perished in the explosion. But by Wednesday afternoon they had reduced the death toll to 14 United States troops, 4 American civilians, 3 Iraqi national guardsmen, and an unidentified person from outside the United States.
Sixty-nine people were wounded. Twenty-five of them were treated and released Tuesday, and many of the more seriously injured were sent to Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany.
[The military said on Thursday that the wounded being treated at Landstuhl - a total of 35 people - were all expected to survive, the Associated Press reported. The patients were suffering from a range of injuries including abdominal and shrapnel injuries, broken bones and burns.]
Senior military officials said Wednesday that the Pentagon had been examining ways to better protect soldiers at forward bases.
With dozens of bases, small and large, scattered around Iraq, and many in the center of the country where the insurgency is most active, the military is under growing pressure to extend its patrols. At the same time, it must continue to guard against infiltrators, possibly among the thousands of Iraqis who work inside the bases.
"We have been looking at force protection parameters not only for dining facilities but for other places we have our large gatherings," Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, the ground commander in Iraq, told CNN.
Identification checks of people entering mess halls are spotty at many forward bases. But many mess halls already forbid anyone from entering with backpacks or bags.
Military officials were loath to describe the precautions in detail. "At every level of command constant assessments are made on status of force protection and what the vulnerabilities are and how to mitigate them," said Lt. Col. Daniel Baggio, a military spokesman.
Richard A. Oppel Jr. reported from Baghdad for this article, and Eric Schmitt from Washington. David Johnston contributed reporting from Washington.
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