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Fresh violence kills 44 in Iraq
Violence left 44 dead in Iraq yesterday in one of the bloodiest days since the new Iraqi government took office, as hopes slipped for two French journalists held by a radical Islamic group and saboteurs hit oil pipelines in the north and south of the country. Police suffered heavy losses in two incidents, and clashes raged between US forces and insurgents. The pipeline attacks were yet another blow to Iraq's fragile economy, after an attack earlier in the week crippled a key oil export pipeline to Turkey. Iraqi police and national guardsmen, assisted by US forces, launched a major assault on the no-go zone of Latifiya, a stronghold of the Sunni Muslim insurgency south of Baghdad, in the boldest offensive by the new government since it took power at the end of June. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit said the raid targeted criminals and militants. Twelve policemen were killed and five national guardsmen wounded in the raids that saw 200 suspects arrested, an Iraqi national guard officer said. ''We have received orders from Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to search Latifiya for weapons and terrorists,'' he told AFP. ''The operation will last at least a week.'' The officer, who declined to be named, was speaking from Mahmudiya, another town on the deadly stretch of road where foreigners, US forces and Iraqi police have often been targeted by insurgents. Violence also flared in the northern city of Kirkuk, where 17 people were killed and 36 wounded in a suicide car bombing, said Doctor Ridha Abdullah, head of the Kirkuk general hospital. The bomb went off in front of a police academy, and 14 of the dead were policemen. Also in northern Iraq, 13 Iraqis were killed and 53 wounded as US forces and insurgents battled for six hours in Tall Afar, west of the main city of Mosul, medics said. The US troops, backed by a small national guard detachment, poured into the city after dawn to hunt down a ''terrorist cell'' and detained a wanted individual, the military said. ''The city of Tall Afar has been a suspected haven for terrorists crossing into Iraq from Syria,'' it said. Insurgents hit a US helicopter with gunfire and two soldiers were wounded as the chopper made an emergency landing. As the clashes intensified, an F-16 fighter jet dropped a large bomb near the city, the military said. Soldiers guarding the downed helicopter killed two insurgents after coming under rocket-propelled grenade fire, it said, adding that three Iraqi national guards were wounded in a separate incident. It was unclear whether their deaths were included in the total for Tall Afar. US troops pulled out at 2pm (2000 AEST), with insurgents still hunkered down behind cars and in buildings awaiting a fresh assault. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-09-05 |
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