Sixty attacks a month on British forces as 1,000 soldiers go Awol

By Andy McSmith
Published: 29 May 2006

British forces in Iraq have been attacked by insurgents nearly 60 times a month since the start of the year. The new figure, covering the first four months of 2006, is a 26 per cent increase on 2005.

The sharp increase is expected to prompt more calls for the troops to be pulled out quickly rather than staying on in the hope that the violence can be controlled.

In January, there were 36 attacks, in February, 41, in March, 57, and in April, 103, for a total of 237, an average of more than 59 a month. During 2005, there were 562 attacks in the same four provinces, a monthly average of under 47.

The violence is at its worst in Basra, where 71 attacks were recorded in April alone. Another 23 attacks were in Maysan, one of the provinces the British hope to hand over to the Iraqi security forces during the summer.

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