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Suicide bombers kill 24 policemen in Baghdad

Posted on: Thursday, 15 September 2005, 11:00 CDT

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)

Source: REUTERS

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