Insurgent offensive kills 100 in Iraq

Coordinated attacks could signal escalation of strikes in coming days

? Insurgents set off car bombs and seized police stations Thursday in an offensive aimed at creating chaos ahead of next week’s hand-over of power to a new Iraqi government. U.S. and Iraqi forces regained control in heavy fighting, but the day’s violence killed more than 100 people, including three U.S. soldiers.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terror network claimed responsibility for the attacks. Most of the casualties were Iraqi civilians. A large number were killed in simultaneous car bombings in the northern city of Mosul, but some also died as U.S. troops battled the guerrillas. At least 320 people were wounded, including 12 Americans.

The broad offensive — with violence in at least six cities — was the most extensive since attacks in early April. It showed a strength to the insurgency that appeared to surprise even U.S. officials who have been warning that guerrillas would try to sabotage the transfer of power.

The U.S. military responded with heavy firepower, dropping 11 500-pound bombs and a 2,000-pound bomb.

The assaults were launched in the morning, when black-clad guerrillas attacked police stations and government complexes in Baghdad, Baqouba, Mosul, Ramadi and Mahaweel. U.S. troops and insurgents traded heavy fire on the outskirts of Fallujah.

The heaviest fighting was in Baqouba, northeast of the capital, where guerrillas shot their way into a government office complex, seized two police stations and destroyed the home of the provincial police chief. Insurgents brandishing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades roamed streets deserted by police.

In several hours of fighting, U.S. tanks rolled into the city, machine guns blazing, and aircraft dropped three 500-pound bombs on insurgent positions near the soccer stadium, Maj. Neal O’Brien said. By afternoon, control of the buildings was restored.

Two American soldiers died in the Baqouba fighting, the 1st Infantry Division said.

But the day’s worst bloodshed came in Mosul — the country’s northern metropolis often touted as a success story in restoring order in Iraq — where the U.S. military said 62 people were killed, including a U.S. soldier, and more than 220 people were wounded.

Most died when at least four car bombs rocked the police academy, two police stations and the al-Jumhuri hospital.

U.S. troops recaptured the Sheik Fathi police station in a hail of gunfire, and Iraqi troops raided a nearby mosque used by insurgents, the U.S. military said. Mosul’s governor imposed an overnight curfew.

In Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 60 miles west of Baghdad, gunmen barraged a police station with rocket-propelled grenades, destroying the building. At least 20 people were killed in the city, according to the Health Ministry.

“We were inside the station and suddenly there was a very heavy explosion,” police 1st Lt. Ahmed Sami said. “We discovered later on that the station was attacked from all around.”

Coalition officials said the offensive could augur escalated attacks in Baghdad in coming days.

Al-Zarqawi’s followers claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attacks in a statement posted on an Islamic Web site often used by his Tawhid and Jihad movement. The statement said the “occupation troops and apostates” — meaning Iraqi police — “were overwhelmed with shock and confusion.”

Al-Zarqawi earlier claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and beheadings of American businessman Nicholas Berg and South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il, and an audiotape released Wednesday purporting to be by al-Zarqawi threatened to kill Iraq’s prime minister.

Analysis of the tape showed it likely was al-Zarqawi’s voice, a CIA official said Thursday.

American and Iraqi officials insisted the transfer of power would proceed as planned June 30. On Thursday, the coalition turned over the last 11 government ministries to Iraqi officials.

During the handover ceremony, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the attacks were “only acts of disturbances conducted by cowards” meant “to foil the democratic process.”