85 people killed, 320 wounded in attacks

I guess this falls in the 2% of "bad news" about Iraq, eh?

Wave of attacks hits Iraqi forces

BBC News

Hospitals struggled to cope with casualties
Eighty-five people have been killed and 320 wounded in a wave of attacks across Iraq - less than a week before the handover of power.
The worst attacks were in the city of Mosul, where at least 44 people died and 216 were hurt in a series of car bombings, Iraq's health ministry said.

More than 40 people died in Baquba, Ramadi, Falluja and Baghdad, in what appeared to be co-ordinated attacks.

Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, condemned the violence.


Three US soldiers were killed in Thursday's raids, which began at dawn when insurgents seized police stations in Baquba.

TOLL OF CASUALTIES

Mosul: 44 dead and 216 hurt
Ramadi and Falluja: 20 dead and 76 wounded
Baquba: 13 dead and 15 wounded
Baghdad: 8 dead and 13 wounded
Source: Iraqi health ministry

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US army in Iraq, said security was restored by noon (0800 GMT).

"With the exception of what we are seeing in Baquba, most seem to be under control right now," he said.

Iraqi and coalition officials had warned that attacks on security forces would increase in the run-up to the 30 June handover of power to an Iraqi interim government.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the BBC: "I think we underestimated the nature of the insurgency that we might face during this period.

"The insurgency that we're looking at now has become a serious problem for us, but it's a problem that we will deal with."

This is an opportunity for me to ask the Iraqi people to close ranks and inform on these criminals

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "These attacks are targeted on those Iraqis who are working hard to build a better future for their country.

"They are aimed at depriving the Iraqi people of the peaceful and democratic future they deserve. They will not succeed."

It was unclear which group, if any, co-ordinated the attacks.

A statement on a Saudi web site on behalf of Jordanian-born Islamist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed his group carried out the Baquba attack.

MONTH OF VIOLENCE

22 June: US says it kills 20 militants in Falluja air strike
21 June: Four US soldiers die in Ramadi ambush
17 June: 41 die in car bomb attacks in Baghdad
16 June: Iraqi oil fields security chief killed in Kirkuk
14 June: 12 die in Baghdad car bomb
13 June: Education ministry official killed in Baghdad
12 June: Interim deputy foreign minister Bassam Qubba killed in Baghdad
8 June: Car bombs kill 15 in Mosul and Baquba
Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera showed insurgents in Baquba claiming to be al-Zarqawi followers.

But Mr Allawi said he believed a group linked to al-Zarqawi was behind the Mosul bombings and that the Ramadi and Baquba raids were by Saddam Hussein loyalists.

Predicting more attacks in the days ahead, he added: "This is an opportunity for me to ask the Iraqi people to close ranks and inform on these criminals. We are going to defeat them."

The BBC's Middle East analyst, Roger Hardy, says it is not clear that there is a single command centre organising the violence and that the al-Zarqawi group may be one among many.

A US patrol was ambushed in Baquba. Military spokesman Major Neal O'Brien said: "The patrol returned fire, killing two insurgents.

"There also have been reports of indiscriminate fire, landing in populated areas. They're firing mortars indiscriminately."

In Mosul:

there were at least four bombings
car bombs went off in the al-Wakhas district and on the Wadi Hajar police station in the south of the city
the Iraqi Police Academy, another police station and the al-Jumhuri hospital were also attacked, said police and doctors
insurgents fought running battles with US troops and Iraqi police

In Baquba, 55km (35 miles) north-east of Baghdad:

witnesses said masked men in black took control of the main road and attacked a police station with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades
two US soldiers died in the Baquba fighting and seven were wounded, the US army said

In Ramadi, 100km west of the capital:

black-clad insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at two police stations, police said seven people were killed and 13 were wounded in the attack, hospital officials said two other groups of insurgents attacked a second police station and a government building

In Falluja:

the US military said a Cobra helicopter was shot down but there were no casualties
US warplanes and helicopter gunships flew low over the city in response to gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades
residents were seen fleeing the city

In Baghdad:
four members of Iraq's national guard died and two people were hurt in a car bomb blast