Gunmen wearing military uniforms over explosives belts charged into a government building in former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s hometown in an attack that left 56 people dead, including 15 hostages who were shot execution-style.
The five-hour standoff in Tikrit on Tuesday ended only when the attackers blew themselves up in what was one of the bloodiest days in Iraq this year.
US troops who were nearby as part of an advising mission with Iraqi forces responded to the attack, and some US soldiers received minor wounds, military spokesman Colonel Barry Johnson said.
The US troops dropped back after Iraqi forces took control, Johnson said.
The assault was reminiscent of the bloodshed that was common during the worst days of the conflict as Iraq was pushed to the brink of civil war. Attacks have ebbed in recent years, but the looming deadline for US troops to withdraw from the country, along with political unrest elsewhere in the Mideast, have raised fears the country could return to violence.
The standoff in Tikrit, the capital of Salahuddin Province 130km north of Baghdad, began at about 1pm when the attackers blew up a car outside the council headquarters to create a diversion, before launching their raid.
Wearing military uniforms — including one with a high rank — the gunmen identified themselves as Iraqi soldiers at a security checkpoint outside the government compound, but opened fire on guards when they were told they needed to be searched.
They later set fire to the bodies of the three slain provincial councilmen in a defiant show of how insurgents maintain the ability to carry out brutal attacks despite years of US-Iraqi military efforts against them.
“Why did they shoot him and set fire to his poor body?” asked Salahuddin government spokesman Mohammed al-Asi, trying not to weep when confirming the killing of lawmaker Mehdi al-Aaran, an elderly man who headed the council’s religious affairs committee.
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