Fighters Tactics Surprised The U.S.
25 June, 2004
Aljazeera
Over 100 people were killed and 320 wounded in Thursday’s severe attacks that was targeting mainly Iraqi security personnel across the occupied country, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's claimed responsibility. Reports said that most of the casualties were Iraqi civilians.
Clashes also occurred in Baquba, Ramadi, Baghdad and other areas.
But the worst bloodshed came in Mosul, where four car bombs killed 62 people, including a U.S. soldier, and wounded more than 220, according to the U.S. military.
The severity of the attacks shocked the outgunned Iraqi police and the U.S occupying forces, and the extent of the fighting was a clear sign of the power of the defence fighters. Occupation officials said the offensive could augur escalated attacks in Baghdad in coming days.
"We underestimated the nature of the insurgency that we might face during this period, and so the insurgency that we are looking at now ... has become a serious problem for us," Secretary of State Colin Powell told the British Broadcast Corp.
U.S. officials have been warning that al-Zarqawi's followers — who were responsible for the beheadings of American businessman Nicholas Berg and South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il — would likely step up attacks to try to disrupt the transfer of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government.
On Tuesday, U.S. airstrikes against alleged al-Zarqawi hideouts in Fallujah killed more than 20 of his fighters, American officials said.
Al-Zarqawi's followers claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks in a statement posted on a Web site often used by his Tawhid and Jihad movement. The statement said the "occupation troops and apostates" — meaning Iraqi police — "were overwhelmed with shock and confusion."
American and Iraqi officials insisted the transfer of power would proceed as planned June 30.
Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi said he did not believe the attacks were coordinated. Although acknowledging the attacks had the fingerprint of foreign resistance fighters, he added that former Baathists loyal to Saddam Hussein were probably behind violence in Ramadi and Baquba.Besides Mosul and Baqouba, attacks occurred in Ramadi, Fallujah, Baghdad and Mahaweel. Hostile fire near Fallujah forced a U.S. Marine Cobra helicopter gunship to make an emergency landing, but the crew escaped injury, a senior coalition official said.
In Mosul, at least four car bombs rocked the police academy, two police stations and the al-Jumhuri hospital. U.S. troops recaptured the Sheik Fathi police station in a hail of gunfire, and Iraqi troops raided a nearby mosque used by the insurgents, the U.S. military said. Mosul's governor imposed an overnight curfew, and the city television station urged people to stay home for the "general good."
On Thursday, American M1A1 tanks — machine guns blazing — rolled down the deserted streets of Baqouba — once better known as the center of Iraq's commercial orange groves.
Harried doctors, some working in bloodstained white coats, struggled to cope with a stream of wounded brought to Baqouba's hospital in civilian cars and pickup trucks. Corridors in the emergency room were spattered with blood. The Health Ministry said 13 people were killed and 15 wounded.
The wounded screamed in agony, and many of their friends and relatives directed their anger at the Americans, whom they blamed for destroying the order imposed by Saddam Hussein."May God destroy America and all those who cooperate with it!" one man screamed in the corridor. Another carried the body of a young man shot in the back of the head. "Oh God! Abbas is dead!" he cried.
Outside, U.S. Army helicopter gunships swooped low over Baqouba, occasionally firing at fighters hideouts in palm groves. Some motorists flew white flags from their car antennas. Iraqi police guarded several key government buildings — including the local coalition office — but they were not seen on the streets.
In Ramadi, Iraqi fighters barraged a police station with rocket-propelled grenades, destroying the building."We were inside the station and suddenly there was a very heavy explosion," police 1st Lt. Ahmed Sami said. "We discovered later on that the station was attacked from all around."
Resistance fighters also attacked another police station and the governor's residence with rocket-propelled grenades. At least 20 people were killed in the city, according to the Health Ministry.
In the Doura area of Baghdad, someone dressed in an Iraqi police uniform carrying a suitcase or a briefcase blew himself up near a U.S.-Iraqi checkpoint, killing four Iraqi soldiers and wounding at least one American, U.S. soldiers said.
Also Iraqi fighters attacked four Baghdad police stations with mortars, hand grenades and Kalashnikov rifles. Police successfully defended the stations with "minimal assistance from the occupation forces," a U.S. statement said.
In Mahaweel, south of Baghdad, a bomb exploded outside the police station, killing one officer and wounding six.
U.S. Marines and fighters traded gunfire on the outskirts of Fallujah, the rebellious Sunni city and al-Zarqawi stronghold which American forces handed over to a local Iraqi force following a three-week U.S. siege in April.
Late Thursday, Fallujah Mayor Mahmoud Ibrahim al-Juraisi announced a cease-fire and the Marines pulled back to their bases just outside the city. Motorists who drove through Fallujah earlier said insurgents and uniformed Iraqi police appeared to be cooperating, chatting amiably on the street corners.