Iraq 'No More Safe Than in 2003'

BBC

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has acknowledged that security in Iraq has not improved statistically since Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003.
Mr Rumsfeld told the BBC insurgents crossed Iraq's "porous" borders from Iran, Syria and elsewhere.

But he said Iraq's military forces were growing in numbers and he was confident the insurgency would be defeated.

On Tuesday, at least 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Police say most of the dead were civil servants lining up outside a government-owned bank to get their salaries or pensions.

They believe the bomber walked up to the queue with up to 30kg (66lbs) of explosives hidden under his clothes.

Among the 50 people wounded were 10 children, who had small stalls on the side of the road.

More than 900 people, mostly Iraqis, have died in insurgent attacks across the country since the government of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafaari took office six weeks ago.