Suicide bombers kill 24 policemen in Baghdad

By Mohammed Ramahi

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Suicide bombers killed 24 policemen in
Baghdad on Thursday, causing more carnage after al Qaeda in
Iraq declared war on majority Shi’ite Muslims and anyone linked
to the U.S.-backed government.

Three blasts in the southern district of Doura, which also
wounded 21 people, dealt another blow to the government, which
has failed to subdue a Sunni Arab insurgency in spite of
repeated U.S.-Iraqi offensives such as one that is under way in
Tal Afar in the north.

The explosions followed Wednesday’s wave of attacks that
cost more than 150 lives in Baghdad, including 114 people
killed when a suicide bomber blew up a van in a crowd of
laborers.

A statement attributed to Iraq’s al Qaeda leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi said those bombings were the opening shots in a war
on Shi’ites, who, along with Kurds, now hold power.

Clashes erupted between police and insurgents after the
suicide blasts in Doura, home to an oil refinery and a hotspot
for violence.

The first bomber rammed a car into a truck, killing 15
police commandos, elite units in the battle against insurgents.

Charred bodies covered with a white sheet lay near a
burned-out bus in a street littered with shrapnel. Smoke rose
from a house near the blast site.

Hours later, two bombers struck two minutes apart, killing
at least nine police commandos and officers, police said.

Al Qaeda also claimed responsibility for the latest
attacks, without specifying which ones it had carried out.

“Our lions are still creating victory with their honorable
blood and the battle to avenge the Sunnis of Tal Afar is still
being waged in Baghdad and other cities,” said a statement on
an Islamist Web site often used by the group.

U.S. Major General Rick Lynch told a briefing on Thursday
that U.S. forces were ready to launch strikes against towns
where they suspected Zarqawi might be establishing bases.

“We’ve got great intelligence which tells us where he’s
moving to and where he’s trying to establish safe havens…As
soon as we see him trying to establish a safe haven, we will
conduct operations just like we did in Tal Afar,” Lynch said.

“We’re using all assets under our control in conjunction
with the Iraqi security forces to find him and kill him.”

Near the town of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad,
police said they found the body of Mahdi al-Attar, a prominent
cleric in one of the Shi’ite parties dominating the government.
He and three associates were shot and stabbed to death.

BATTLE-READY BATTALIONS

The Iraqi government hopes U.S. training will prepare local
forces to take over security and enable the Americans to go
home. The U.S. military say they have already trained 190,000
Iraqi troops, and 115 Iraqi battalions are battle-ready.

However, guerrilla attacks have not let up. Some members of
the security forces cover their faces with bandanas to avoid
being identified by rebels who have killed hundreds of their
comrades.

The violence is overshadowing politics and hurting
government efforts to persuade Iraqis that a referendum on
October 15 on a new constitution will ease strife and produce
stability.

Zarqawi’s declaration of sectarian war lends weight to
government accusations that Sunni militants are attacking
Shi’ites to ignite civil strife and bury any political process.

Prominent Sunni clerics accuse the government of allowing
Shi’ite militia hit squads to operate alongside security
forces. The government denies the charge.

Sunnis, who comprise 20 percent of the population,
dominated Iraq for decades and resent their loss of influence
since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003 by U.S.-led
forces.

They fear the constitution will further marginalize them by
granting autonomy to southern Shi’ites in line with that
enjoyed by Kurds in the north and decentralizing control of oil
revenue.

Zarqawi, in an Internet audio tape, said his war on
Shi’ites was in response to the assault by U.S. and Iraqi
forces against insurgents in the town of Tal Afar near the
Syrian border.

The government says nearly 160 rebels have been killed in
the attack which began on Saturday in a town described by U.S.
and Iraqi officials as a staging post for foreign fighters
entering Iraq from Syria. Damascus denies helping insurgents.

A major U.S.-led offensive that captured the guerrilla
bastion of Falluja in November was designed to break the
backbone of the insurgency. However, the violence continues.

(Additional reporting by Fares al-Mehdawi and Sebastian
Alison in Baghdad, and Aref Mohammed in Kirkuk)