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Officials: Attacks on Green Zone increasing

BAGHDAD — Rocket and mortar attacks against Baghdad’s Green Zone, or International Zone, have increased in the past three weeks after a period of relative quiet, two American military security personnel in the zone said recently.

Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Paul Riffle, the senior enlisted member of the International Zone Police, said there had been six or seven separate attacks on the heavily fortified area of central Baghdad in the previous 10 days alone, compared to an average of only one or two per week a month ago.

Each attack might include up to five or six mortars or rockets, he said.

Two Americans — a contractor and a soldier — died in a rocket attack near the U.S. Embassy on March 27, but most of the attacks do not result in casualties because they are inaccurate and because the buildings in the zone are spread out and defended by blast walls.

An Army officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that attacks have increased in the past few weeks after a lull earlier this year. He said leaders do not know why attacks have picked up, but they believe it is because the insurgents feel cornered by the recent security crackdown in the city and are lashing out.

The Green Zone is a 13-square-mile area of central Baghdad that contains the American military and civilian facilities and leaders, Iraqi government buildings, foreign embassies and other organizations. Entry into the zone is tightly controlled, but about 5,500 Iraqis live in the area, and another 50,000 or so commute into it.

The International Zone Police, in charge of internal security within the zone, comprises 45 Air Force Security Forces police officers. Hundreds of soldiers and contractors provide perimeter security and man internal checkpoints throughout the zone.