Iraqi insurgents step up attacks

A US Marine from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment aims his rifle at suspected insurgents from a sandbagged guard tower at Government Center on Monday in Ramadi, 115 km west of Baghdad. PHOTO: AP

US troops repelled an attack by Sunni Arab insurgents who used suicide car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons in a coordinated assault against the city's main government building and two US observation posts.

There were no reports of US casualties in the 90-minute attack on Monday, the second in the past 10 days against the government headquarters for Anbar Province, a center of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency.

In Baghdad, US and Iraqi forces were engaged in a gunbattle with about 50 insurgents in the Sunni Arab district of Azamiyah, the US military said. Five insurgents were killed and two Iraqi troops were wounded, the US said.

The fighting provided fresh evidence that the insurgency is alive and well in Sunni-dominated areas such as Anbar despite last month's decline in US deaths.

The latest attack here began when two suicide car bombers sped toward the government building, known as Government Center, using a road closed to civilian traffic, Marine Captain Andrew del Gaudio said.

US Marines fired flares to warn the vehicles to stop and when they refused, the Americans opened fire with .50 caliber machine guns from the building's sandbagged rooftop. The vehicles turned and sped away but exploded on a main road, sending a huge fireball into the sky and triggering a shock wave that damaged the US post, del Gaudio said.

As part of the assault, other insurgents fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at Marine positions at the roof of the Government Center, which includes the office of the Anbar governor, and at another observation post, del Gaudio said.

A US Army tank fired a 120mm shell at a small white mosque where about 15 insurgents were shooting at the Government Center, del Gaudio said. The round damaged part of the minaret and the firing ceased, he said.

The total number of insurgent casualties was unknown. But Lieutenant Carlos Goetz said Marines killed at least three insurgents firing mortar rounds toward the Government Center.

In Baghdad, fighting erupted in Azamiyah before dawn when an Iraqi army patrol came under fire, a US statement said. Four hours later, a US-Iraqi checkpoint in the area was attacked by gunmen, prompting the command to send US and Iraqi reinforcements. The US statement said clashes continued until early afternoon.

The attack in Ramadi was the biggest since April 8, when insurgents besieged the Government Center until US jets blasted several buildings used by gunmen to fire on the Marines.

Before the uptick in violence, US officials had been encouraged by a relative lull in Anbar, suggesting that it was due to weariness among ordinary Sunni Arabs who were turning against al-Qaeda-led insurgent groups.

Last week, Major General Rick Lynch told reporters in Baghdad that insurgent attacks in Anbar were down to an average of 18 a day -- compared with a daily average of 27 last October. At the same time, US deaths for March numbered 31 -- the lowest monthly figure since February 2004.

However, US deaths have been rising this month. Of the 47 American service members reported killed in Iraq so far this month, at least 28 have died in Anbar.

In order to quell sectarian unrest, US officials have been urging the Iraqis to speed up formation of a national unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. But the process has stalled due to Sunni and Kurdish objections to the Shiite candidate to head the new government, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Prospects for a quick end to the stalemate were in doubt yesterday, as al-Jaafari's Dawa party pledged to support him for another term as long as he wants the job. Al-Jaafari has refused to give up the nomination that he won in a Shiite caucus last February.

Parliament had been set to meet Monday to try to break the deadlock, but the session was postponed after Shiite politicians gave assurances they could reach a decision on al-Jaafari themselves without a bruising parliamentary fight.