Mosul: Anyone breaking the order would be shot

U.S. forces have sealed off entire districts of the Iraqi city of &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/war/2003/04/04/45605.html ' target=_blank>Mosul, blocking bridges and raiding homes in a hunt for suspects after an attack that killed 18 Americans and four other people.

&to=http:// english.pravda.ru/usa/2002/04/12/27573.html ' target=_blank>FBI and other experts flown in from Baghdad were probing the cause of Tuesday's lunchtime explosion at a U.S. base mess tent, the deadliest strike on Americans in Iraq. The military declined comment on a report they found the remains of a suicide bomber.

If true, it would pose grave questions for security at &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/usa/2001/09/22/15902.html ' target=_blank>U.S. bases as troops prepare to guard Iraq's election next month.

Mosul's governor issued an overnight order on television banning use of the five bridges over the River Tigris and said anyone breaking the order would be shot. Residents said Iraq's third city was a virtual ghost town, with no one in the streets, informs Reuters.

A homicide bomber probably caused the blast that killed 22 people, including 14 American soldiers, at a American base in Mosul Tuesday, a preliminary investigative report has found.

"Evidence found at the site includes components normally associated with improvised explosive devices," the report, released late Wednesday by the U.S. military in Baghdad, states. "There was no physical evidence of a rocket, mortar, or other type of indirect-fire weapon", says FOX News.

The announcement raised questions about how the attacker infiltrated the base, which is surrounded by blast walls and barbed wire and guarded by U.S. troops. However, as in many other U.S. military facilities, Iraqis do a variety of jobs at the base, including cleaning, cooking, construction and office duties.