2 Pinoys wounded in Iraq attack

AMARA, Iraq (AFP) – Two Filipino security guards and a British soldier were wounded in a mortar attack on a coalition base in southern Iraq earlier this week, officials said yesterday.

At least one mortar round hit an accommodation block on the base in the city of Amara, 365 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, late on Wednesday, a British military spokesman said.

"There were three casualties ... none of them are life-threatening," the spokesman told AFP.

A Filipino security guard and the British soldier were taken to a nearby British-run hospital for treatment, while the second Filipino guard was treated at the scene, said the spokesman.

Later that night and again on Thursday night more mortar rounds were fired at the base without causing casualties.

"It happens quite a bit," said the spokesman for the British army, which is in charge of southern Iraq and has between 100 and 150 troops in Amara.

A local police official said Shiite Muslim militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr were behind the attacks.

"At 11:00 pm (1900 GMT), four mortars hit the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Amara" late Thursday, police colonel Ali Hussein told AFP.

"After that there was shooting between British forces and the Mehdi Army (Sadr’s militia force). There were no injuries."

The latest mortar rounds fired hit a security wall outside the coalition base but failed to damage the actual building, said the British military spokesman, adding that British forces were investigating the attacks.

Sadr commands some support in Amara, which has been dogged by frequent anti-coalition attacks.

The Philippine government has shelved indefinitely a plan to lift a ban on the deployment of workers to Iraq as Malacañang condemned yesterday the latest suicide car bombing attacks that killed 35 people and wounded 138 others.

Citing the surge of violence that has killed four Filipinos in the war-torn nation, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the government had mulled scrapping the ban.

Isaias Begonia, spokesman for the Philippine Humanitarian Contingent (PHC) in Iraq, said the ban, which was imposed last April, might be lifted after US military authorities and private employers agreed to improve the security for about 4,100 Filipinos working mostly as cooks and maintenance personnel in 15 American military camps across Iraq.

"The lifting is not forthcoming because of the situation there. The ban stays," Begonia said.

The Philippines would lift the ban when anti-coalition attacks cease in Iraq, he added.

Acting Labor Secretary Manuel Imson said they are looking into the possibility of imposing selective deployment of Filipinos to Iraq.

"We are discussing the possibility of allowing deployment in selected areas where security conditions are favorable," Imson said.

He said manpower pooling to Iraq may be allowed under certain conditions like having valid job orders.

Imson also ordered the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to restrict recruiting agencies from collecting fees until the ban on deployment in Iraq is finally lifted.

The spate of bombing attacks prompted authorities to implement the ban following the recommendation of Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the Middle East Preparedness team.

Malacañang bewailed the most recent suicide bomb attack in Iraq even as none of the victims were Filipinos.

"The Philippine government condemns the recent suicide attack in Iraq and extends its sympathy to the families of the civilians who died in the hand of terror," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

Bunye stressed the Philippine government is still committed to help Iraqis in post-war reconstruction while appealing to Filipinos to stay out of harm’s way or come home.

"The spate of violence in Iraq only strengthens our resolve to help in the restoration of democracy and peace and order in that war-torn country, even as we urge all Filipino civilians in harm’s way to stay in safe places, or come home," Bunye said.

Earlier this week, a Filipino engineer and 12 other people were killed in a car bombing that hit a convoy of General Electric Co., contractors near Baghdad’s busy Tahrir Square. The victim was the fourth Filipino killed in Iraq.

Earlier this month, three Filipino soldiers were wounded when attackers fired on their convoy.

The Philippines has deployed 51 soldiers, police and health workers as part of a peacekeeping contingent in central Iraq.

The ban only applies to workers coming directly from the Philippines, and the government fears many more Filipinos, who are already working in the Middle East, may be streaming into Iraq because of attractive wages.

Begonia said Philippine officials have asked the US military and private firms to inform them of all Filipino workers.

Such information is needed in case of emergency evacuations, Begonia said.

Officials visited Filipino workers in Iraq several weeks ago and found security lapses that exposed them to danger. In one US camp, the workers were given quarters well within range of mortar attacks, according to Cimatu.

Authorities threatened to withdraw the workers because of the security problems, prompting US military officials to make improvements, Cimatu said.

On the other hand, acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Brillantes said no Filipinos were among those killed in the recent single suicide bombing attacks that occurred in Baghdad last Thursday.

"It is fortunate that in this incident there were no Filipinos hurt or affected," Brillantes said.

Brillantes cited a report from Philippine embassy Charge d’ Affaires Ricardo Endaya who visited the site of the attack to check for any Filipino casualty.

The first car bomb exploded in Baghdad near the recruitment center for Iraq’s security force.

The initial blast left 35 people dead and 150 wounded, most of them Iraqis who were trying to apply for work as security personnel.

The second explosion took place outside Baghdad, killing six Iraqi Civil Defense guards and injured four others.

Since the occupation of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, a total of four Filipinos have been killed in the attacks by suspected Iraqi militants.

Meanwhile, the Philippines reiterated its commitment to send policemen to Haiti to take part in the stabilization efforts of the United Nations (UN) in the country.

Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr. told the UN Security Council that Manila is in the final stages of deploying the initial batch of 20 from the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The police officers will be part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah), the peacekeeping force that will replace the 3,600-strong United States-led multinational force that was sent in to contain the rebellion that forced Haiti leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide to flee last February.

An estimated 6,700 peacekeepers and 1,600 international police will be conducting security patrols, disarming former combatants and provide assistance in humanitarian work. - Marichu Villanueva, Marvin Sy, Mayen Jaymalin