Insurgents stormed a jail about dawn Tuesday in the Sunni Muslim heartland
north of Baghdad, killing at least 17 policemen and a courthouse guard.
Authorities said all 33 prisoners in the lockup were freed and 10 attackers were
killed in the battle.
An Iraqi police vehicle
follows a convoy of U.S. armored vehicles, in Baghdad,Iraq, Monday, March 20,
2006. Seven policemen killed in a roadside bomb, political deadlock on the
formation of next national government, rampant lawlessness and the threat of
civil war mark the third anniversay of the U.S. led invasion on Monday.
[AP]
As many as 100 insurgent fighters ¡ª armed with automatic rifles and
rocket-propelled grenades ¡ª stormed the judicial compound in Muqdadiyah, about
60 miles northeast of the capital. The assault began after the attackers fired a
mortar round into the police and court complex, said police Brig. Ali
al-Jabouri.
After torching the police station, the insurgents detonated a string of
roadside bombs as they fled, taking the bodies of many of their dead comrades
with them, police said. At least 13 policemen and civilians and 15 gunmen were
wounded in the attack.
Five other police were wounded in two separate roadside bomb attacks
targeting patrols in northern and southern Baghdad early Tuesday, police said.
Tuesday's assaults came a day after 39 people were reported killed by
insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs in Iraq, continuing the wave of violence
that has left more than 1,000 Iraqis dead since the bombing last month of a
Shiite Muslim shrine.
Police found the bodies of at least 15 more people ¡ª including that of a
13-year-old girl ¡ª dumped in and near Baghdad. The discoveries marked the latest
in a string of execution-style killings that have become an almost daily
occurrence as Sunni and Shiite extremists settle scores.