Straight of the BBC News website, hope it's not as bad as it sounds <img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle>...
<i>Blast at US Mosul base kills 22
Twenty-two people have been killed and at least 50 injured in an attack at a US military base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the US military says.
Unknown assailants fired multiple rocket and mortar rounds, apparently at a dining hall in the base, at around 1200 (0900 GMT).
It is not clear how many US troops were among the casualties.
The attack comes amid an upsurge in violence in the run-up to elections planned for 30 January next year.
Mosul has experienced a spate of attacks since the middle of November when insurgents overran police stations, looting weapons.
The US military said that earlier in the day Iraqi police repelled an attack by insurgents on a police station in the city centre
And AP news agency reported that hundreds of students have been demonstrating in the city demanding that US troops stop breaking into homes and mosques.
Mosul, Iraq's third biggest city and 370km (250 miles) north of Baghdad, is mainly Sunni Muslim. There are simmering tensions between Arab and Kurdish communities.
There have been almost daily attacks on US and Iraqi forces in the city during the last month.
About 80 bodies have been found in and around Mosul since the beginning of December. Many were members of the Iraqi National Guard.
The city was the scene of the worst single incident for the US military in Iraq.
Two Black Hawk helicopters collided over the city in November 2003 killing 17 soldiers and injuring another five. </i>
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