Rebels Dressed as Women Attack Iraqi Police Station
EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 5 - Insurgent attacks across central Iraq, including one in which the guerrillas disguised themselves as women, left at least 16 dead on Friday as Shiite Arabs across the country began celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In the deadliest assault, insurgents dressed in women's clothing attacked a police checkpoint in the town of Buhriz, 35 miles north of Baghdad, killing at least 6 police officers and wounding at least 10 others, American and Iraqi officials said. The guerrillas were armed with Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, and pulled up in five cars, an Interior Ministry official said. The police officers killed at least two of the gunmen, he added.
Maj. Steven Warren, a spokesman for the Third Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, which is charged with controlling western Diyala Province, said the insurgents were disguised as women.
The area around Buhriz and Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, has been plagued by a recent string of insurgent attacks. Last Saturday, a suicide car bomb exploded in a market in the predominantly Shiite village of Huwaider, killing at least 25 people and wounding 30 others.
South of Baghdad on Friday, an American soldier was killed by small-arms fire, according to the military, which said it was investigating.
The military also reported that last Saturday it had killed five senior members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in an airstrike in the western town of Husayba. The military said three safe houses had been destroyed. It said one of those killed was a North African militant known as Abu Asil, who was involved in smuggling arms and fighters across the Middle East. The report could not be independently verified.
Early Saturday morning, American and Iraqi troops began a large-scale assault on Husayba, a town that American officials say has become a bastion of the insurgency. The operation, involving more than 3,000 troops and led by the Marines, is the latest in a series of sweeps to choke off insurgent strongholds in the Euphrates River corridor and cut supply routes for foreign fighters and munitions entering from Syria.
Marine commanders said the operations appeared to be the largest military assault in Iraq since the invasion of Falluja last November. Troops were searching house by house and appeared to meet no resistance in the initial stages.
Maj. Dean Wollan, an intelligence officer for the Third Brigade, said in an interview that he had expected an increase in violence toward the end of Ramadan.
On Thursday, Sunni Muslims began the three-day celebration known as Id al-Fitr, which signifies the end of Ramadan. Shiite Muslims began the celebration on Friday, as did Shiites in Iran. Many Iraqis in Baghdad have chosen to stay home rather than drive to visit relatives, as they traditionally do, because of the rampant violence here in the capital.
In Tuz Khurmato, near the northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb explosion killed five members of a commando unit called Al Raad Brigade and injured five others, police officials said. The commandos were guarding a convoy of 20 fuel tankers on their way to Baghdad. The explosion set aflame one of the guard vehicles and those in it, said Col. Ali al-Obeidi, a Kirkuk police official.
In the Dawra district of southern Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed three civilians and injured six others, an Interior Ministry official said. West of the capital, near Abu Ghraib prison, a mortar round landed on a home and killed a child and wounded the mother and another child, The Associated Press reported. Gunmen killed a former Iraqi Air Force colonel as he drove through Baghdad.
A minivan crashed into an American tank in Dawra in the morning, killing at least three civilians and injuring at least six others, the Interior Ministry official said.
After sunset, a series of explosions resounded through Baghdad, but there was no immediate word as to the cause.
The American military said a soldier from the First Corps Support Command died Thursday in a noncombat incident near Tallil. At least 2,038 American troops have died in the war.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting from Husayba, Iraq, for this article, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Baghdad.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 5 - Insurgent attacks across central Iraq, including one in which the guerrillas disguised themselves as women, left at least 16 dead on Friday as Shiite Arabs across the country began celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In the deadliest assault, insurgents dressed in women's clothing attacked a police checkpoint in the town of Buhriz, 35 miles north of Baghdad, killing at least 6 police officers and wounding at least 10 others, American and Iraqi officials said. The guerrillas were armed with Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, and pulled up in five cars, an Interior Ministry official said. The police officers killed at least two of the gunmen, he added.
Maj. Steven Warren, a spokesman for the Third Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, which is charged with controlling western Diyala Province, said the insurgents were disguised as women.
The area around Buhriz and Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, has been plagued by a recent string of insurgent attacks. Last Saturday, a suicide car bomb exploded in a market in the predominantly Shiite village of Huwaider, killing at least 25 people and wounding 30 others.
South of Baghdad on Friday, an American soldier was killed by small-arms fire, according to the military, which said it was investigating.
The military also reported that last Saturday it had killed five senior members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in an airstrike in the western town of Husayba. The military said three safe houses had been destroyed. It said one of those killed was a North African militant known as Abu Asil, who was involved in smuggling arms and fighters across the Middle East. The report could not be independently verified.
Early Saturday morning, American and Iraqi troops began a large-scale assault on Husayba, a town that American officials say has become a bastion of the insurgency. The operation, involving more than 3,000 troops and led by the Marines, is the latest in a series of sweeps to choke off insurgent strongholds in the Euphrates River corridor and cut supply routes for foreign fighters and munitions entering from Syria.
Marine commanders said the operations appeared to be the largest military assault in Iraq since the invasion of Falluja last November. Troops were searching house by house and appeared to meet no resistance in the initial stages.
Maj. Dean Wollan, an intelligence officer for the Third Brigade, said in an interview that he had expected an increase in violence toward the end of Ramadan.
On Thursday, Sunni Muslims began the three-day celebration known as Id al-Fitr, which signifies the end of Ramadan. Shiite Muslims began the celebration on Friday, as did Shiites in Iran. Many Iraqis in Baghdad have chosen to stay home rather than drive to visit relatives, as they traditionally do, because of the rampant violence here in the capital.
In Tuz Khurmato, near the northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb explosion killed five members of a commando unit called Al Raad Brigade and injured five others, police officials said. The commandos were guarding a convoy of 20 fuel tankers on their way to Baghdad. The explosion set aflame one of the guard vehicles and those in it, said Col. Ali al-Obeidi, a Kirkuk police official.
In the Dawra district of southern Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed three civilians and injured six others, an Interior Ministry official said. West of the capital, near Abu Ghraib prison, a mortar round landed on a home and killed a child and wounded the mother and another child, The Associated Press reported. Gunmen killed a former Iraqi Air Force colonel as he drove through Baghdad.
A minivan crashed into an American tank in Dawra in the morning, killing at least three civilians and injuring at least six others, the Interior Ministry official said.
After sunset, a series of explosions resounded through Baghdad, but there was no immediate word as to the cause.
The American military said a soldier from the First Corps Support Command died Thursday in a noncombat incident near Tallil. At least 2,038 American troops have died in the war.
Kirk Semple contributed reporting from Husayba, Iraq, for this article, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Baghdad.
posted by Marko at 11/05/2005 01:07:00 PM
<< Home