Gas used in car bomb attack near U.S. base sickens soldiers

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A car bomb attack outside a major U.S. military base in Iraq discharged a gaseous cloud that sickened dozens of people Sunday, punctuating a flurry of violence that left 14 American soldiers dead over the past three days.

The bomb exploded near the main gate of Forward Operating Base Warhorse, the largest U.S. military facility in Diyala province, a territory north of Baghdad.

An Iraqi employee on the base said the bomb unleashed chlorine gas. The U.S. military cited an "unconfirmed report of off-color smoke" that caused soldiers to complain of "minor respiratory irritations and watery eyes," according to a statement. Soldiers were rushed to the clinic on base for treatment, but there were no deaths.

"Something made them feel ill," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad. "What it is specifically, we haven't figured that out yet."

The use of chlorine gas has become a regular weapon in the Sunni insurgent arsenal but has rarely been used against large numbers of American soldiers.

About 3,000 additional U.S. soldiers were recently deployed to Diyala to battle a complex mesh of Sunni and Shiite militant groups.

Earlier Sunday in Diyala, a car bomb exploded as an Iraqi police patrol taking prisoners to a station in Balad Ruz, killing 15 people, including 11 police officers, and wounding 35, according to Lt. Mohammed Hakman of the provincial police.

14 U.S. deaths

On Sunday, the U.S. military announced that a series of other bombings and shootings, most of them in and around Baghdad, killed 14 soldiers and wounded 24 since Friday.

Most of the U.S. casualties since Friday resulted from roadside bombings. A roadside bomb northwest of Baghdad killed four soldiers on patrol Sunday, and two more soldiers were killed Saturday by a roadside bomb in Nineveh province, north of Baghdad.

In a series of other attacks, two soldiers were killed in Diyala province and six in the Baghdad area. In one incident, a soldier on foot patrol southwest of Baghdad spotted two men near a mosque who appeared suspicious, the military said. As the soldier approached to question them, one of the men detonated explosives, killing himself and the soldier.

The soldiers' names were withheld pending notification of their families.

Sporadic violence broke out elsewhere Sunday. Shiite militiamen from the Mahdi Army, loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, fought Iraqi soldiers and police in Diwaniyah, about 110 miles south of Baghdad. The clashes occurred as security forces conducted raids in the city, according to Iraqi police, while U.S. aircraft provided cover overhead.

The fighting killed at least one Iraqi soldier and wounded 16 other people, said Brig. Gen. Sadiq Jaffar, commander of the Diwaniyah police.

A spokesman for al-Sadr's organization in Diwaniyah said the violence began after Iraqi police violated a signed truce by attempting to arrest a senior Mahdi Army leader in the area without a warrant. The militia leader, Kifah al-Kuraiti, was wounded in the clashes, said Haider Nateq. Iraqi police said they had warrants for all their targets.