Guerrillas attack US forces after stunning raid

BAGHDAD - US occupation forces have came under more fire in Baghdad, a day after insurgents launched a stunning raid in a restive town to the west, killing 22 US-backed police.

Following scores of gunmen storming a police station and two other buildings on Saturday, unknown assailants fired automatic weapons at a US military patrol travelling with two civilian sport utility vehicles in western Baghdad yesterday, damaging one of the civilian vehicles, a US military spokesperson said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries to soldiers or the attackers, Specialist Nicole Thompson said.

Reuters Television footage showed the burning wreckage of a GMC suburban on a stretch of highway in the al-Adl district of Baghdad. US soldiers had sealed off a section of the highway with armored vehicles and a helicopter circled overhead as the fire was extinguished.

Shortly afterwards a roadside bomb blew up near a US convoy in a nearby neighbourhood. The blast missed the convoy but residents said US soldiers opened fire indiscriminately wounding five people.

There was no immediate comment from the military on the second incident.

Guerrillas are mounting increasingly bold raids against US-backed Iraqi security forces with the apparent aim of disrupting American plans for elections and an orderly handover of power to Iraqis June 30.

Two hospitals said 22 police, one civilian and four attackers were killed in Saturday's assault on the police station and other buildings in Falluja, 50 km west of the capital. At least 35 were wounded.

Police said 20 to 85 prisoners escaped during the attack.

Guerrillas have killed more than 600 Iraqi security and police personnel since April.

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.

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.

But in Falluja where support for the anti-US guerrillas is very strong, police are seen are traitors who have sold out to the Americans.

"The Americans are poisoning their minds and the Mujahdeen are now against them because they say it's forbidden to extend your hands in any way to Americans," said Salem Zaid, a trader.

Iraq and six neighbours expressed their fears of a spill-over of political violence from Iraq after a two-day meeting in Kuwait.

In a final statement, they said it was vital to eliminate "all terrorist and other armed groups from Iraqi territory that constitute a danger for the neighbouring states."

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq