<>In reaction to the suspected suicide bombing at a base in Iraq, the Pentagon is investigating how U.S. forces check the backgrounds of Iraqis who work at U.S. installations.
Investigators say a suicide bomber was the likely cause of a blast Tuesday at the Camp Marez mess hall that killed 22 people, including 14 American soldiers.
A military spokesman said Iraqi workers have to show identification to gain entry to American facilities -- but they are not always searched, nor are they always escorted once allowed to enter.
Iraqis were helping in the construction of a permanent mess hall at Camp Marez.
Suicide bombings by insurgents present a security challenge to U.S. forces in Iraq, said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a Pentagon briefing Wednesday.
Myers said the U.S. commander in Mosul, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, "has a very good plan for force protection," but he added: "We have no front lines."
"We have had a suicide bomber apparently strap something to his body, apparently him, and go into a dining hall," he said. "We know how difficult this is to prevent people bent on suicide and stopping them."
Evidence at the blast site includes components normally associated with bombs. There was no physical evidence of a rocket or mortar, according to a military statement Wednesday.
In addition to the 14 soldiers, the blast Tuesday killed four U.S. civilian contractors, three Iraqi security forces and an unidentified non-American.
Myers said it was too early to determine whether that unidentified person was the bomber.
Pentagon officials said another 69 people, including 44 soldiers, were wounded in the attack.
Thirty-five soldiers and civilians have been transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Germany for treatment.
Nearly half of the 35 wounded are in critical condition, said Col. Rhonda Cornum, commander of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
Cornum said a "vast majority" of those being treated are expected to recover.
Group claims responsibility
Messages on Islamist Web sites said the Iraqi militant group Jaish Ansar Al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the Mosul strike, calling it a suicide attack carried out by one person. CNN could not confirm the authenticity of the claim.
The group has claimed responsibility for previous attacks, including the beheadings of a Turkish truck driver and a Kurdish official and the slayings of 12 Nepalese hostages. In its statement, it said it shot video of the attack to be released later.
The Mosul attack was one of the deadliest single incidents for American troops since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, and the one-day toll was the worst since the early days of the invasion.
Rise in violence expected
Mosul has been a site of repeated attacks in recent weeks.
When the U.S. military launched a major offensive in Falluja in November, there was concern some insurgents fled to Mosul. The military recently conducted an offensive against insurgents there, but violence has continued.
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended himself and the progress of the war in Iraq, saying he feels the grief of the families of slain U.S. troops "to my core."
He pointed to an "unambiguous" victory in the Falluja operation, the registration of more than 7,000 candidates for the January 30 elections and the return of "hundreds of refugees" to Iraq every week.
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