The handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi interim government has failed to substantially reduce attacks on coalition and Iraqi security forces, USA Today reported Monday. The newspaper analyzed unclassified U.S. government security reports and found that the United States and its allies in Iraq came under attack an average of 52 times per day in the month before the June 28 handover. In the two months since then, the attacks have averaged 49 a day, the newspaper said. The U.S. government had said they expected the attacks - carried out by Islamic fundamentalists and foreign fighters opposed to the interim government and former members of Saddam Hussein's regime - to decrease with Iraqis in control. The USA Today analysis found that the violence continues throughout the country but is concentrated in Baghdad; the so-called Sunni Triangle, Saddam's former power base north and west of Baghdad; and certain Shiite cities in southern Iraq. It also found that the attackers most often used roadside bombs. Mortars and rockets were also often employed in the guerilla-style, hit-and-run insurgency. Bush met Monday with his most important military advisers about the continuing unrest in Iraq. --More 2258 Local Time 1958 GMT
