Military

DATE= 10/23/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / BOMBS (SHORT ONLY)

NUMBER=2-308981

BYLINE=GREG LAMOTTE

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Iraqi police say they foiled two possible bombings in Baghdad. V-O-A's Greg LaMotte is in the Iraqi capital with the details.

TEXT: Iraqi police stopped a car packed with explosives near a complex used by U-S military forces in Baghdad. At least two people were arrested.

Later, Iraqi police said they found a bomb along a road in the same neighborhood.

Car bombings have killed 17 people this month in Baghdad, and claimed the lives of 22 people when the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was attacked by a suicide car bomber in August.

Attacks against coalition forces and Iraqi security personnel have been rising during the past several weeks and peaked at as many as 35 a day.

U-S military officials say they expected attacks to increase as they continue to take their fight to neighborhoods where suspected Iraqi militants and loyalists of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein are known to live. (SIGNED)

NEB/GL/AWP/RAE/FC