Iraq police stations 'attacked'

Several people are reported dead in a number of attacks on police stations in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

news.bbc.co.uk...

[edit on 24-6-2004 by Banshee]

At least 11 Iraqis have been killed after insurgents attacked a police station in the town of Baquba with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Witnesses on Thursday said the black-clad gunmen continued to roam around Baquba, 60 km (40 miles) northeast of the capital, and had taken control of the town's main intersection, attacking any Iraqi police or U.S. troops they encountered.

www.reuters.co.uk...

BREAKING: Many of the gunmen wore yellow headbands bearing the name of a Muslim militant group called "Saraya al-Tawhid and Jihad" (Battalions of Unification and Holy War).

The name is close to that of the Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad group led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which has claimed responsibility for many attacks in Iraq, including this week's beheading of a South Korean hostage.

BREAKING: CNN UPDATE

U.S. forces have been engaged in intense fighting after insurgents launched simultaneous attacks in several Iraqi cities, including Fallujah and Baqubah.

U.S. troops faced fierce resistance when they tried to enter an eastern industrial section of Fallujah around 8 a.m. (0400 GMT) Thursday.

Details of causalities were not immediately available.

The Associated Press reported witnesses hearing multiple explosions in the city, which lies in the restive Sunni triangle region -- loyal to the old Baathist regime of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

www.cnn.com...

Fifth police station attacked in Mosul
"Militants in Iraq have launched a series of co-ordinated assaults across the north of the country killing at least 23 people, including three United States soldiers.
The simultaneous violence in Baquba, Falluja, Ramadi and Mosul intensifies a bloody campaign by Iraqi insurgents and foreign militants to sabotage the formal handover of sovereignty next week."
www.abc.net.au...

United States Cobra helicopter has been shot down near the rebel bastion of Fallujah.
www.abc.net.au...

Sanc'.

As i was saying...

"The most recent violence across Iraq has claimed 70 lives. The attacks come less than a week before the handover to the interim Iraqi government and underscore the desperate struggle Washington is engaged in to win the peace in the country it invaded last year. Joining us now from New York is the former professor of strategy at America's National War College Harlan Ullman. He's now a prominent political columist and author."

Transcript,
www.abc.net.au...
Audio link,
www.abc.net.au...
Sanc'.

I think the insurgents are trying to intimidate the people of Iraq. They want them to know that no matter what they are going to be answering to someone after June 30. They will put somebody like Saddam in power because these people really don't want freedom. They want them to be afraid of what will happen.