US, Iraqis insist women bombers in Baghdad were disabled; Iraqis demand more protection

U.S. and Iraqi officials insisted Saturday that two women who bore the explosives that killed nearly 100 people in Baghdad were mentally disabled in what they fear is a new tactic by an increasingly desperate al-Qaida in Iraq.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, turned his attention to the northern city of Mosul, promising what he said would be the final showdown with al-Qaida in Iraq led insurgents.

U.S. commanders in northern Iraq have said the battle to oust al-Qaida in Iraq from its last urban stronghold will not be a swift strike as al-Maliki suggested, but rather a grinding campaign that will require more firepower.

Iraqis in Baghdad demanded more protection for markets, saying one of the bombers wasn't searched because she was known as local beggar and the male guards were reluctant to search women because of Islamic sensitivities.

Ali Nassir, a 30-year-old day laborer whose hobby is raising birds, said people with disabilities often beg for food and money at the weekly al-Ghazl pet bazaar on Fridays.

"I saw the suicide bomber and she was begging," Nassir said, adding the woman was known to the vendors. "The security guards did not search her because she is a woman and because it is not unusual to have beggars, mainly women and children, moving around in the market."

Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were authorized to release the information, raised the death toll of Friday's attacks to at least 99 _ 62 people in the first blast at the central al-Ghazl and 37 others about 20 minutes later at the New Baghdad area pigeon market in southeastern Baghdad.

The top U.S. commander in Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, said the attacks underscored warnings that al-Qaida remains a serious threat despite major inroads against the network since the Americans began sending some 30,000 extra troops to the capital and surrounding areas in the spring.

"These two suicide-vest attacks represent the worst of human nature," Hammond said during a news conference. He said American forces would continue their targeted operations that have succeeded in decreasing attacks.

"We've had many other days where in our determination ... we've kept the violence down to a minimum," he said, adding troops had killed or detained 94 high-value targets in January. "We will not give back any terrain here in Baghdad."

Iraqi officials maintained that the two women had Down syndrome and said the explosives had been detonated by remote-control, indicating the bombers may not have known they were being used in attacks.

The U.S. military, which gave a lower combined death toll of 27, blamed the attacks on al-Qaida in Iraq and said they signaled a new desperation as concrete blast barriers and other security measures have stanched the group's ability to stage deadly car bombings and similar attacks.

"They were both females and they both looked like they had Down syndrome," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a military spokesman for the Baghdad area, adding that medical experts with his division had examined the photos and agreed the women probably suffered from the genetic disorder.

"It sounds like AQI has stooped to a new low where they're using people who may not even know what they're doing and strapped something to them and told them go into a market," Stover said, using the military acronym for al-Qaida in Iraq.

He said one of the women was carrying a backpack that was stuffed with ball bearings and shrapnel to maximize the casualties, while the other one was wearing an explosives vest.

The bombings served as a reminder that Iraqi insurgents are constantly shifting their strategies in attempts to unravel recent security gains around the country. Women have been used in ever greater frequency in suicide attacks _ six times now since November.

Friday's blasts were the deadliest in the capital since an April 18 suicide car bombing that killed 116 and wounded 145.

Al-Maliki vowed to crack down on the militants. "The ugliness of this crime will not deter our security forces. It will increase our determination to continue crushing the dens of the terrorists," he said in a statement.

Onlookers gathered at the New Baghdad pigeon market Saturday, peering through twisted metal into the charred remains of stalls and shops. Vendors sifted through ruined wares. One man held up a tattered piece of clothing, ripped apart by Friday's blast or in the frenzied panic that followed.

Haider Jabar, a 28-year-old government employee who lives near the market and often goes for a stroll among the cages, said the woman used in that attack was a stranger to the locals.

"The woman seemed to be lame. It was uncommon to have a woman walking inside New Baghdad bird market, this fact had attracted many teenagers who had gathered around her at the time of the explosion," he said.

Others called on authorities to step up measures to protect the market, which unlike many others in the capital is not surrounding by concrete barriers.

"Every place in Baghdad is exposed to terrorist attacks," said survivor Badir Sami, 42. "I demand tighter security measures at popular markets like this, where many people gather especially on Fridays."

Another pigeon dealer, Ali Mansour, said he was packing up his shop after surviving three attacks in the al-Ghazl market.

Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, has become the next likely showdown with Sunni insurgents, who have shifted to northern Iraq to escape U.S.-led offensives in and around Baghdad and in Diyala province, northeast of the capital.

Iraqi police and military units have been dispatched to the area, and al-Maliki said he was eager to "end the matter as soon as possible," although he gave no start date. The prime minister also named the commander of the security operations in and around Mosul as newly promoted Lt. Gen. Riyadh Jalal, a senior officer in the region.

"We have come here to start the march of liberating Mosul from terrorists and outlaws," al-Maliki said during a meeting with Iraqi military commanders in the city, which is the capital of Ninevah province. "The stabilization of this province will send the last message that al-Qaida and the remnants of the former regime are defeated."

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Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.