Baghdad, Iraq ? Iraq’s most feared terror group claimed responsibility Sunday for slaughtering members of the Iraqi security forces in Mosul, where dozens of bodies have been found. The claim raises fears the terror group has expanded to the north after the loss of its purported base in Fallujah.

Iraq’s deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, said sticking to the Jan. 30 election timetable would be a challenge, but delaying it would bolster the insurgents’ cause.

U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 17 suspected insurgents in raids south of the capital Sunday, Iraqi police said. Operations there included a dawn speedboat assault by U.S. Marines and British and Iraqi troops on suspected insurgent hideouts along the Euphrates River, British media reported.

Suicide bombing workshop

A mosque raided by security forces in southern Baghdad contained a workshop to rig suicide car bombs, with seven vehicles ready for terror attacks, an Iraqi Defense Ministry official said Sunday.

Car bombings and roadside blasts have become routine in the Iraqi capital in recent weeks, including a blast Sunday that wounded two U.S. soldiers.

National Guard forces raided the Sunni Muslim Al-Yassen Mosque in the southern Baghdad area of Abu Dshir on Saturday, said Gen. Saleh Sarhan of the Defense Ministry. In addition to seven cars pre-rigged with explosives, the guardsmen found 30 rocket-propelled grenades, high-powered rifles, mortars and remote control detonators, Sarhan said.

Terror claims

A statement posted on an Islamist Web site in the name of al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for killing 17 members of Iraq’s security forces and a Kurdish militiaman in Mosul, where insurgents rose up this month in support of guerrillas facing a U.S.-led assault in Fallujah.

The claim could not be independently verified, but the style of writing appeared similar to other statements by al-Zarqawi’s group, which is responsible for numerous car bombings and beheadings of foreign hostages in Iraq.

The United States has offered a $25 million reward for al-Zarqawi’s capture — the same amount it is offering for Osama bin Laden.

At least 50 people have been killed in Mosul in the past 10 days. Most of the victims are believed to have been supporters of Iraq’s interim government or members of its fledgling security forces.