Muslims continue to kill Muslims
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 8:41 am
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Heavily armed insurgents attacked Iraqi police checkpoints with rocket-propelled grenades in western Baghdad on Wednesday and heavy clashes broke out, police and witnesses said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Around 40 insurgents, some of them wearing masks, could be seen brandishing weapons in the streets of Hay al-Jamma, a district in the west of the city, shortly after they attacked the checkpoints with rockets and assault rifles.
A Reuters cameraman at the scene said at least six police vehicles were on fire and gunfire and explosions could be heard.
The police said they had called for reinforcement from U.S. forces to repel the attacks.
Hay al-Jamma is close to the Amiriya district, which has been a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency over the past two years.
Iraqi security forces conducted raids in Amiriya and Ghaziliya, in northwestern Baghdad, late on Tuesday, rounding up several suspected insurgent ringleaders.
A senior U.S. military official in Baghdad said on Wednesday his forces were bracing for an insurgent onslaught as the Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi parliament prepares to adopt a new constitution this week, against Sunni opposition.
"We believe that the enemy is still ... intending to conduct some larger-scale operation in Baghdad associated with the release (of the constitution)," he said
ADVERTISEMENT
Around 40 insurgents, some of them wearing masks, could be seen brandishing weapons in the streets of Hay al-Jamma, a district in the west of the city, shortly after they attacked the checkpoints with rockets and assault rifles.
A Reuters cameraman at the scene said at least six police vehicles were on fire and gunfire and explosions could be heard.
The police said they had called for reinforcement from U.S. forces to repel the attacks.
Hay al-Jamma is close to the Amiriya district, which has been a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency over the past two years.
Iraqi security forces conducted raids in Amiriya and Ghaziliya, in northwestern Baghdad, late on Tuesday, rounding up several suspected insurgent ringleaders.
A senior U.S. military official in Baghdad said on Wednesday his forces were bracing for an insurgent onslaught as the Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi parliament prepares to adopt a new constitution this week, against Sunni opposition.
"We believe that the enemy is still ... intending to conduct some larger-scale operation in Baghdad associated with the release (of the constitution)," he said