Insurgents Target Holiday Shoppers

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A spate of insurgent attacks Monday killed dozens of holiday shoppers in the southern city of Basra and also took the lives of six American soldiers, making October the deadliest month for the U.S. military in Iraq since January.

 A car bomb in Basra, Iraq's mostly Shiite second city, exploded around 9 p.m. on popular Algiers Street, as residents shopped for clothes and sweets in preparation for the feast commemorating the end of the holy month of Ramadan later this week. 



 The blast destroyed or damaged at least eight shops, cut off electricity and brought sudden darkness, chaos and panic to one of the most crowded parts of the city. 



 "We saw fire and lots of smoke," said Khudair Mayahi, owner of a dairy products store near the explosion. "Bodies were just lying on the street." 



 Insurgents elsewhere killed at least six American soldiers Monday, and a Marine was reported killed on Sunday, pushing the U.S. military death toll for October to 92. That is the highest monthly toll since the bloody run-up to Jan. 30 elections, which took the lives of 106 U.S. military personnel. 



 The October toll is up sharply from the 49 Americans who died in September. At least 2,025 American military personnel have died in Iraq since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion, nearly 80 percent of them in hostile incidents. 



 While the rising death toll has presented political complications for President Bush and his administration both domestically and abroad, White House officials have maintained a consistent line: that the fallen soldiers have died for a just cause. 



 The administration "mourns the loss of each and every one of our men and women in uniform who have made the ultimate sacrifice to make the world freer and more peaceful," White House spokesman Frederick Jones said Monday. "And the best way to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice is to prevail in the war on terrorism." 



 But even longtime international supporters of the U.S. invasion, such as Italy, with about 3,000 troops in Iraq, appear to be backing away from the administration. In a television interview aired Monday in Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, now visiting Bush in Washington, was quoted as saying that he "tried on several occasions to convince the American president not to wage war." 



 U.S. military officials cautioned that the most recent spike in fatalities does not necessarily mean that the insurgency is gaining strength. 



 "You cannot determine at this point if it is an upsurge or anomaly from one data point," said Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, spokesman for U.S.-led forces in Baghdad. "Sometimes (insurgents) are able to achieve their desired results no matter what we do -- however, those are limited and far between." 



 Insurgents have unleashed a flurry of deadly attacks against Iraqi Shiites and American troops during the last week, killing nearly two dozen soldiers and Marines. Almost all Americans killed by insurgents in October were in the capital or the Sunni Arab western and central parts of the country. 



 Sunni Arabs make up about a fifth of Iraq's 27 million people but filled the upper ranks of Iraq's officer corps and civil service during the decades preceding the U.S.-led invasion. They now bristle at their loss of power and prestige under a government dominated by majority Shiite Muslims and non-Arab Kurds. 



 U.S. and Iraqi officials hope that drawing Sunnis into Iraq's budding political scene can allay Sunni anger. In contrast to the Jan. 30 vote that Sunnis largely boycotted, dozens of Sunni Arab coalitions, parties and politicians have signed up to take part in Dec. 15 elections. 



 Still, the attacks continue. 



 Residents bemoaned the continued deterioration of security in Basra, a port city that was long oppressed by Saddam. 



 "Basra is very safe in general," said Hossein Zayiban, a police officer who was near the blast. "But now the people are very frightened, and this will affect people very much." 







 Times staff writers Tyler Marshall and Peter Wallsten in Washington and special correspondent Athman Alghanm in Basra contributed to this report.