Iraq update: 5 simultaneous attacks overwhelm local defenses

From The Independent

Rebels overpower security forces

Devastating attacks on police and army bases show insurgents can fight American-trained forces head on - and win

15 February 2004

In a shattering blow to the American occupation of Iraq, insurgents yesterday successfully stormed the Iraqi police headquarters in Fallujah, shooting their way in and killing at least 19 people. The guerrillas, armed with heavy machine-guns and rockets, also overpowered the local Iraqi army garrison.

US forces, unable to reach the scene in time, were powerless to intervene as their newly created Iraqi security forces were quickly overwhelmed. Some 75 prisoners managed to escape during the raid.

An Iraqi police officer told yesterday how the attackers moved from room to room inside the police headquarters, gunning down the helpless police officers where they stood, even killing the wounded. He said he only survived because he was able to kick away a grenade the insurgents threw at him.

Four of the attackers were killed in the gun battle. Iraqi police said they believed three of them were foreign militants, because they were carrying foreign passports, but that the fourth was carrying an Iraqi identity card from Baghdad - but it was impossible to confirm these claims.

The Iraqi army base attacked yesterday was the same one at which General Johan Abizaid, the most senior American general in Iraq, narrowly escaped with his life in a rocket-propelled grenade attack two days earlier. Yesterday's raid capped a terrible week for the occupation, in which at least 100 Iraqis died in two suicide bombings aimed at new police and army recruits.

It was a devastating display of power by the insurgents. They have moved beyond car bombings now. They are able to fight head on with American-trained Iraqi security forces and capture their own bases from them. These are the forces the Americans were planning to entrust with security when they hand over political control to an interim Iraqi government on 30 June. In fact, there were no American forces inside Fallujah when the attack happened yesterday because the US has been trying to pull its own troops out of harm's way, handing over day-to-day security to Iraqis.

Much more at link including a Iraqi Body Count Update and a chronology of Iraqis killed in the first six weeks of 2004.

The five simultaneous attacks occurred on three police stations, a civil defense base and the mayor's office. All in Fallujah.

For the latest in Iraqi breaking news see Lunaville.org and Knight Ridder's Washington Bureau