Attacks decline

Attacks against US troops in Iraq are becoming less frequent.

Attacks on American troops in Iraq have declined in the last two weeks and insurgents are increasingly targeting Iraqis working with the U.S.-led coalition in an effort to intimidate them, the top U.S. civilian and military leaders here said Tuesday.

Another international humanitarian organization announced it was curtailing its operations in Iraq because of the deteriorating security situation.

Chief administrator L. Paul Bremer said the insurgents' recent attacks on the coalition itself were not having the desired effect, so they were turning to Iraqis who help occupation forces.

"The security situation has changed," Bremer said at a press conference with Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of the U.S. Central Command.

"They have failed to intimidate the coalition," he said. "They have now begun a pattern of trying to intimidate innocent Iraqis. They will not succeed ... If Saddam taught the Iraqis nothing else it was how to endure the depredations of thugs."

Abizaid said that the number of daily attacks on coalition forces were down by about half over the last two weeks. He gave no figures but U.S. officials have said U.S. forces were being attacked on average of 30-35 times a day.