Scores dead in multiple Iraq attacks
Thursday 24 June 2004, 16:13 Makka Time, 13:13 GMT
Iraq's police force took dozens of casualties within hours
Attacks on police stations and US occupation troops in five cities
around Iraq have claimed at least 70 lives and wounded over 250.
Iraqi police have suffered the highest number of fatalities, but US
soldiers have also been killed and an occupation force Cobra
helicopter has been brought down near Falluja.
Seven car bombs in the northern city of Mosul have killed dozens of
policemen and wounded as many as 60 more.
One of the blasts also killed a US soldier and injured three others.
Lieutenant Muhammad Abd al-Karim said the attacks began after 9am
local time in the al-Wakhas and Fathi districts of the city.
Bodies are still being brought into local hospitals, but the health
ministry in Mosul estimates that about 44 people have died as a result
of the blasts, with an additional 216 people injured.
Ramadi attacks
Just hours earlier, rocket-propelled grenades slammed into three
different stations around the western city of Ramadi during a
coordinated attack, according to police officer Lieutenant Ahmad Sami.
"We were inside the al-Qatana station ... [it] was attacked from all
around." Sami confirmed that the Faruq station and another government
building had also been destroyed.
Dr Hamad al-Dulaimi of Ramadi hospital said he knew nine police
officers had died so far and that at least 27 had been seriously
wounded.
Meanwhile, a hospital spokesperson in the northeastern city of Baquba
said at least 13 people were killed and another 15 injured during a
morning raid there.
Baquba battle
Two US soldiers were among the dead and seven more were wounded in an
armed ambush at around 05:30 local time (01:30 GMT).
The US military has launched air
strikes on Baquba
US First Infantry Division spokesman Major Neal O'Brien confirmed the
fatalities and said air strikes would be launched on the city within
hours.
But resistance fighters also began an attack on US troops and Iraqi
police in a sustained street battle just after dawn.
The western section of the city, known as the al-Mufraq district,
appeared to be out of US-led occupation force control, though police
chief General Walid Khalid expects to secure the whole quarter within
hours.
Four more police officials were also killed in southwest Baghdad at
12:00 pm local time after a car exploded outside a station.
A spokesman said three more were seriously injured. The body of the
car's driver was also recovered - wearing the remains of a police
uniform.
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