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Insurgents Raid City Hall North of Baghdad

Posted on: Saturday, 27 November 2004, 06:00 CST

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents attacked and briefly occupied city hall in a town north of Baghdad early Saturday before being driven out by U.S. and Iraqi forces in a firefight that left several rebels dead and one policeman wounded, officials said.

In Baghdad, three people died and about a dozen were injured Saturday in three separate explosions, police and hospital sources said. A U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb north of the capital, the military said.

The attacks came a day after 17 Iraqi political parties representing Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Christians and secular groups demanded a six-month delay in Jan. 30 elections until the government can control spiraling violence and secure polling places.

The declaration was signed at the home of Sunni elder statesman Adnan Pachachi during a meeting attended by three Cabinet ministers. Pachachi, a former foreign minister, said he believed the government was waiting for such a request before seriously considering whether the election can be held as scheduled.

Speaking at his vacation home in Crawford, Texas, President Bush responded to the news of the demand Friday by saying: "The Iraqi Election Commission has scheduled elections in January, and I would hope they'd go forward in January."

Many Sunni clerics have called for a boycott of the vote, while Iraq's majority Shiites see the vote as a chance to consolidate power after years spent oppressed by Saddam Hussein's regime.

On Saturday, about 100 insurgents attacked city hall and two police stations in Al Khalis, 40 miles north of Baghdad, said municipal official Saad Ahmed Abbas.

"They occupied the city hall for a while," he said.

Abbas said that U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces regained control after a two-hour exchange of fire with the rebels. "Now the situation is calm," he said.

Ghassan al-Khadran, deputy of governor of Diala province, said one policeman was injured in the shootout and that several rebels had been killed.

The attack came as U.S., British and Iraqi security forces continued their operation against suspected insurgent strongholds in a region south of Baghdad, around the cities of Latifiyah and Mahmoudiyah, arresting about 70 men suspected of launching attacks in the area.

The raids were part of "Operation Plymouth Rock," launched Tuesday against insurgents operating between the capital and Shiite shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf. Multinational commanders hope to close off escape routes for insurgents trying to escape from Fallujah, which U.S. and Iraqi government forces reoccupied earlier this month after a week of fierce combat.

Meanwhile, al-Khadran said that U.S. troops opened fire by mistake on four of his bodyguards, killing two and injuring the others, while they were heading to his house in Fada al-Khales, northeast of Baqouba.

He said the Americans believed that the bodyguards were insurgents.

Also Saturday, Maj. Gen. Ayad al-Kurwi, commander of operations in Diyala province, said that his 15-year-old Zayad was kidnapped by masked gunmen.

On Saturday, a U.S. soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near a patrol about 40 miles north of Baghdad, the military said. The attack on the patrol from the 1st Infantry Division occurred near Duluiyah.

On Baghdad's central al-Rasheed Street, two people were killed and at least 10 injured when an explosive device concealed in a pushcart went off near the Central Bank as two U.S. Humvees drove through the area, police Lt. Col. Jamal Abbas Abd said.

The two who died were passers-by, while most of the injured were bank guards, he said.

Separately, a U.S. military vehicle was damaged by a roadside bomb on the highway near Baghdad International Airport, witnesses said. A U.S. military spokesman said he had no information about casualties.

The rear of vehicle, an armored military bus, was badly damaged, police Lt. Saad al-Azzawi said.

Meanwhile, another roadside bomb in the neighborhood of al-Saydiyah in south Baghdad killed a bystander and injured a police captain, hospital sources said.

The explosion occurred as a U.S. military convoy drove past, witnesses said. No American casualties were reported.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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