The death toll from Thursday's wave of attacks in Iraq rose to 92,
officials said, as a Web site said a group linked to al Qaeda
associate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was responsible. Wounded
in the series of bombings and ambushes -- which struck Mosul,
Ba'qubah, Ramadi, Baghdad and Fallujah -- numbered 285, according to
Iraqi police and health officials.The violence comes six days ahead of the scheduled handover of power. The military wing of the Unity and Jihad, the group linked to al-Zarqawi, issued a statement on a Web site claiming responsibility for the attacks. The attacks were conducted by a cell called the Martyrdom Brigade, it said. "Your brothers in Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad launched a wide assault in several governorates in the country which included strikes against the apostate police agents and spies, the Iraq army alongside their American brothers," the Web site statement said. "Your brothers in the Martyrdom Brigade also carried out several blessed operations including five in Mosul on five Iraqi police centers, two operations in Baqubah and another in Ramadi." The authenticity of the statement could not be verified. Insurgents staged the operation six days before the June 30 transfer of power, and their efforts reflect an increase in violence predicted by the United States to accompany the days approaching handover. Last week, 35 people were killed in a car bombing near a Baghdad army recruiting station. On Tuesday, militants beheaded a South Korean civilian, who had been seized last week by a group believed to be linked to al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi is a Jordanian-born Islamic militant U.S. officials say has close ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. U.S. officials say al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. troops, Iraqi civilians and others, including the August 2003 bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. They also blame him for the videotaped beheading of American businessman Nicholas Berg in May. The U.S. government has put a $10 million price on his head. Of the 92 dead, 65 were killed in the northern city of Mosul; nine were killed in Al Anbar province, which included Ramadi and Fallujah; and 13 died in Diyala region, which includes Ba'qubah. Hospital and coalition officials say the northern city of Mosul has been virtually paralyzed. This is where the vast majority of the killings happened. The assault on Mosul began shortly after 9 a.m. when three simultaneous car bombs hit separate targets. In Ba'qubah, insurgents also attacked a police station in the city, and a gunbattle ensued. Armed insurgents freely roamed parts of the city, a local politician said. U.S. forces responded with airstrikes on insurgent positions in the city north of the Iraqi capital, according to military officials with the 1st Infantry Division. In Ramadi, a coalition military official said bodies were being pulled out of the rubble. At a Baghdad checkpoint, a suicide bomber detonated himself in a southern section of Baghdad called Abu Dasheer. And in Fallujah, U.S. forces battled insurgents and military officials, reporters said. According to journalists, American forces faced fierce resistance as they tried to enter a eastern industrial section of the city around 8 a.m. (12 a.m. EDT). The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force said its actions in Fallujah were "strictly defensive in nature." The United States has attacked militant "safe house" targets in Fallujah twice this week, killing about 38 people. U.S. warplanes and helicopters were taking part in the operation. A U.S. Cobra helicopter made an emergency landing outside of the city after coming under small arms fire, a senior coalition military official said. The aircrew was recovered in good condition. Allawi shrugs off death threats Iraq's Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi shrugged off two death threats delivered via television and the Internet, saying he remained determined to bring democracy to Iraq. The latest threat, contained in a videotape broadcast by the Arabic-language television station Al-Arabiya, came from a previously unidentified group that called itself Group of Jihad and Resistance. (Full story) Along with the threat to kill Allawi, the voice on the audiotape threatened to continue attacks against coalition and Iraqi government targets. In an effort to improve the fight against insurgents, Allawi this week sent a letter to the NATO secretary-general requesting training and technical assistance, a NATO spokesman said. The matter is expected to be discussed informally among the nations and then formally at the heads-of-state level at next week's NATO summit in Istanbul, Turkey. |
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