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Gunmen, bombs kill nine in broad assault in Iraq
Source: Agencies |
May 10, 2010, Monday
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GUNMEN using silenced weapons attacked at least six checkpoints in Baghdad today, killing seven Iraqi soldiers and policemen, while bombs planted at three others wounded several more, an Interior Ministry source said.
In separate incidents, a roadside bomb targeting a passing police patrol killed two civilians and wounded five people in southern Baghdad while bombs planted outside the homes of police officers in the western city of Falluja wounded at least eight.
The attacks on checkpoints using silencers, intended to add an element of surprise and to sow confusion, showed a new tactic was being used by a weakened yet still dangerous Sunni Islamist insurgency after government forces dealt a series of major blows to al Qaeda's local network in recent weeks.
All the checkpoints were attacked around the same time at dawn, the source said, asking not to be identified.
"This was a message to us that they can attack us in different parts of the city at the same time because they have cells everywhere," he said.
Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the height of sectarian warfare in 2006/07 but a March election that produced no clear winner and left the country adrift in political uncertainty has fuelled tensions.
A cross-sectarian alliance led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shi'ite, rode strong support from minority Sunnis to take a two-seat lead in the March 7 parliamentary vote.
The country's main Shi'ite-led coalitions, however, have agreed to form an alliance that would deprive Allawi of a chance to try to form the next government, potentially angering Sunnis.
BATTLEFIELD SUCCESS
At the same time, US and Iraqi military forces have scored several battlefield victories against al Qaeda, including the killing of the organisation's two top leaders in Iraq in April.
But while weakened, officials say al Qaeda in Iraq and affiliated Sunni Islamist groups remain a potent force, and they have warned that they will try to stage significant attacks in order to prove to their followers that they are still around.
Two of the checkpoints attacked by gunmen were in eastern Baghdad, one in the south and the others in the west. The ones attacked by bombs were all in the south and southeast.
Around 26 people were wounded in the coordinated assaults in Baghdad.
The bombings in the former al Qaeda stronghold of Anbar province in the west did not cause major damage. The homes of police officers have been bombed repeatedly in Anbar, Iraq's Sunni heartland, in recent weeks.
In separate incidents, a roadside bomb targeting a passing police patrol killed two civilians and wounded five people in southern Baghdad while bombs planted outside the homes of police officers in the western city of Falluja wounded at least eight.
The attacks on checkpoints using silencers, intended to add an element of surprise and to sow confusion, showed a new tactic was being used by a weakened yet still dangerous Sunni Islamist insurgency after government forces dealt a series of major blows to al Qaeda's local network in recent weeks.
All the checkpoints were attacked around the same time at dawn, the source said, asking not to be identified.
"This was a message to us that they can attack us in different parts of the city at the same time because they have cells everywhere," he said.
Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the height of sectarian warfare in 2006/07 but a March election that produced no clear winner and left the country adrift in political uncertainty has fuelled tensions.
A cross-sectarian alliance led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shi'ite, rode strong support from minority Sunnis to take a two-seat lead in the March 7 parliamentary vote.
The country's main Shi'ite-led coalitions, however, have agreed to form an alliance that would deprive Allawi of a chance to try to form the next government, potentially angering Sunnis.
BATTLEFIELD SUCCESS
At the same time, US and Iraqi military forces have scored several battlefield victories against al Qaeda, including the killing of the organisation's two top leaders in Iraq in April.
But while weakened, officials say al Qaeda in Iraq and affiliated Sunni Islamist groups remain a potent force, and they have warned that they will try to stage significant attacks in order to prove to their followers that they are still around.
Two of the checkpoints attacked by gunmen were in eastern Baghdad, one in the south and the others in the west. The ones attacked by bombs were all in the south and southeast.
Around 26 people were wounded in the coordinated assaults in Baghdad.
The bombings in the former al Qaeda stronghold of Anbar province in the west did not cause major damage. The homes of police officers have been bombed repeatedly in Anbar, Iraq's Sunni heartland, in recent weeks.
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