- BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Need
a holiday from Iraq? Don't forget your passport, tickets -- oh, and a flak
jacket for the trip to Baghdad International Airport.
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- The "death road" to the airport, also known
as RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) alley, is probably Iraq's most dangerous
highway.
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- Scores of U.S. military convoys and Western contractors
have been hit in sophisticated guerrilla ambushes that have claimed dozens
of lives along the thoroughfare.
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- "According to the latest information, there is one
successful attack every two days on that road. It is a high risk area,"
said one of the hundreds of Western security consultants hired to protect
foreigners in Iraq.
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- Guerrillas are showing no let-up, planting roadside bombs,
unleashing rocket-propelled grenades or conducting drive-by shootings on
the six-lane highway.
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- Western security consultants say there have been more
than 50 attacks on the road since early April. Applying stickers to maps,
they try to trace the patterns -- and advise clients to take back roads
instead.
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- Demand for flights out of Iraq increased dramatically
in April when kidnappings and fierce clashes between U.S. troops and rebels
made road travel to neighbouring Jordan or Kuwait too risky.
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- AMBUSHES LEAVE VEHICLES IN FLAMES
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- But better business has not been accompanied by improved
security along the five-mile (eight-km) highway to the heavily-fortified
airport.
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- On Friday, thick black smoke billowed out of an 18-wheel
truck after guerrillas hit a convoy.
-
- Westerners in flak jackets dragged away another damaged
vehicle with a tow truck as jumpy U.S. soldiers, including snipers, secured
the area and helicopters circled overhead.
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- "A BMW drove down from one of the bridges and parked
here and waited until the convoy passed. Then they opened fire," a
young boy told Reuters, as his friends started looting the burning vehicle.
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- It was a familiar scene in the area sandwiched between
the Sunni-Muslim Amiriya and Shi'ite Shulla districts, where crowded neighbourhoods
of sand-coloured houses provide cover for insurgents with AK-47 assault
rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
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- The U.S. military has chopped down trees that guerrillas
used for cover. But empty buildings still provide effective hiding places.
The convoys of Humvees that speed by carry nervous soldiers pointing their
weapons in every direction.
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- Working in small teams who know the terrain, sidestreets
and bridges well, guerrillas with walkie-talkies or mobile telephones message
each other until the shooters are alerted to the approach of a convoy.
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- One attack that raised eyebrows came on June 5, when
guerrillas driving four-wheel drive vehicles similar to those used by Westerners
in Baghdad approached a convoy and opened fire.
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- Four Westerners were killed. "The latest trend is
to appear harmless by driving vehicles like those used by foreigners,"
said another Western security consultant.
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