Rebels killed 12 Iraqi soldiers near Kirkuk yesterday, said an Iraqi military commander. The 12 soldiers were travelling back from their jobs guarding oil pipelines when they were ambushed on the road between the villages of Azab and Zaraquiya, 85km west of Kirkuk, said General Anwar Amin. Earlier, 11 Iraqis, mostly security forces, have been killed in attacks north and south of Baghdad, security sources said. Meanwhile, the chief of police in Mosul has given insurgents two weeks to give up their weapons or face a crackdown by security forces emboldened after the election. "Hand over your weapons or we will come and get you," police chief Brigadier Mohammed Ahmed Al Jabouri said in a television address. The ultimatum came two days after Iraq held successful national elections despite insurgent threats.US Marines killed a leader of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi's group and 13 other insurgents during clashes late last month, the US military said. A US military statement announced that Ali Mohammad, also known as Abdul Jalil, was killed during a Marines' raid on January 26 in Haditha west of Baghdad and near the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
Iraq has enjoyed a period of relative calm since Sunday's landmark elections despite threats by insurgents to continue their deadly campaign against the government and US-led forces. Two soldiers and a civilian were killed when clashes erupted between rebels and an army patrol in the restive Sunni city of Samarra, north of Baghdad. "The civilian was driving close to where the clashes happened," said an army officer. Another soldier was killed and one wounded when their patrol was targeted by a bomb around dawn near Dhuluiya, about 70km north of Baghdad, the army said. A bomb apparently intended for a passing US army patrol killed two civilians driving in a car at Dijla, about 30km north of the capital, police said. Gunmen also killed two policemen near Baquba, an interior ministry source said.