Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted yesterday that the resistance against the U.S. presence in Iraq is intensifying. In an interview on ABC’s This Week Powell said, “It’s getting worse and the reason it’s getting worse is that they are determined to disrupt the election.”

Iraq has seen another bloody weekend that left dozens dead across the country. In Mosul, up to four members of the Iraqi National Guard were killed earlier today in a car bombing. The attack comes two days after seven members of the Guard were killed in an ambush in western Baghdad.

Overnight, at least five Iraqis died in U.S. air attacks on the Sadr City section of Baghdad. U.S. air attacks have also continued in Fallujah. At least 27 people have died over the past two days there. One of the deadliest incidents of the weekend occurred in Latifiyah, south of Baghdad. 10 people died and 26 were wounded when a group of gasoline tankers were attacked. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal is reporting as many as 30,000 Iraqi Christians have fled the country since a string of church bombings in August. It marks the largest religious exodus since the 1950s and 1960s when much of Iraqi’s Jewish community left the country.

And at least four U.S. troops died over the weekend bringing the monthly death toll to 63. September is on pace to become one of the deadliest months so far for U.S. forces. In other Iraq news, the U.S. military has arrested a senior commander in the U.S-trained Iraqi National Guard. The brigadier general was arrested on suspicion that he was collaborating with the Iraqi resistance. The arrest raises news questions on the loyalty of the U.S.-trained troops.