Guerrilla raid in restive Iraq town leaves 22 dead

10.00pm

FALLUJA, Iraq - Scores of gunmen firing mortars and grenades stormed Iraqi security posts in Falluja on Saturday, killing 22 people including 14 police in the latest audacious strike on forces key to the transfer of power in Iraq.

Police said their station and an Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC) headquarters as well as the mayor's office were hit in a coordinated assault by about 70 guerrillas which left a total of 22 people dead, including four attackers and four civilians.

At least 35 people were wounded in the attack on the ICDC compound, where US forces' Middle East commander General John Abizaid escaped a grenade attack during a visit two days ago.

US troops stayed out of the fighting on Saturday.

Police said 20 to 85 prisoners escaped from jails in the police station during the attack, the latest in a series of strikes on U.S.-backed Iraqi forces apparently designed to undermine US plans to hand back power to Iraqis by June 30.

"(They) fired mortars, explosives and light machineguns from four directions. Their weapons were more powerful than our Kalashnikovs," said police officer Barazan Abu Issa, who was outside the police station when it was attacked.

Police said some officers were unarmed at the time of the attacks, which signaled growing boldness in a guerrilla campaign against US and other foreign forces and, increasingly, against Iraqis seen as collaborators.

KURD LEADER SEES COUNCIL ROLE IF NO VOTE

Guerrillas have killed more than 600 Iraqi security and police personnel since April in an attempt to undermine US efforts to prepare Iraqis to take over security of the country.

The violence in Falluja came during one of the bloodiest weeks since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein on April 9, including two suicide bombs that killed at least 100 Iraqis joining the police or a new Iraqi army.

Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, attending talks in Kuwait with six neighbouring states, called for tight security to stop cross-border infiltration by foreign guerrillas blamed by US authorities for some of the attacks on US forces and Iraqis.

The survival of the Iraqi forces is key to the US plan to hand back power by June 30, a date to which President Bush, facing a presidential election in November, is committed.

The United States plans to hand over sovereignty to a transitional Iraqi administration by the start of July and helped convince a UN envoy to assess calls for an early vote.

The call for elections has been spearheaded by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential religious authority for Shi'ites, who has demanded an elected government but signalled he may respect the UN opinion.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said on Friday the credibility of elections was more important than timing, while an aide ruled out a vote before June 30, raising questions over the timing of elections and how to pick a transitional body.

Sunni Arabs, Saddam's sect, fear elections would hand power to Shi'ites who organised politically in exile, and whom some believe would opt for a theocratic form of government similar to that of Shi'ite Iran.

KURDS AND FEDERALISM

Calls for an early vote are also opposed by Iraqi Kurds, who have themselves alarmed other Iraqis with their call for a federal government that would cement autonomy in and beyond the northern zone they have effectively run since 1991.

Thousands of demonstrators in Sulaimaniya, capital of one half of Iraq's Kurdish area, marched on Saturday in support of a proposal for federalism advanced by Kurds on Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council.

Council member Jalal Talabani said after meeting Sistani that the federalism Kurds want does not mean separatism.

"We expect the transfer of sovereignty on time," Talabani told reporters in the Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf.

"And the best way is elections, which we told Brahimi," he said. "And he has a clear idea that we expect the Governing Council to assume authority if there is no transitional government established or if elections are not held."

Near Tikrit, the US military said it had covered the small dirt hole that was the last refuge of Iraqi dictator with a heavy slab of concrete to keep tourists and other visitors out.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq