- A mortar attack on an Iraqi national guard headquarters
north of Baghdad today killed or wounded at least 100 Iraqis, officials
said.
-
- Six mortar rounds fell on national guard offices in an
early morning attack in Mashahidan, 25 miles north of Baghdad, Iraqi police
and national guard officers told the Associated Press.
-
- Reuters quoted a US military spokesman as saying four
Iraqi national guards were killed and up to 80 wounded.
-
- The Iraqi national guard has been a target of insurgents
trying to undermine US-led security efforts ahead of November national
elections.
-
- In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, US troops clashed
with militants in the city's centre with fierce fighting taking place near
City Hall, witnesses said.
-
- A Humvee was damaged when it was hit by a home-made bomb
and rocket fire, according to witness Hatif Mahmoud. It was uncertain
whether
there were any US casualties.
-
- In nearby Falluja, the US command said it destroyed
several
weapons storage sites and safe houses of terrorist leader Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi
last night.
-
- The operations in Ramadi and Fallujah were part of a
stepped up campaign to curb Sunni Islamist insurgents before January's
national elections and bring the volatile region west of the capital under
government control.
-
- In Baghdad, the US command said the late night attacks
in Falluja occurred around midnight but did not specify whether they were
air strikes.
-
- "Multiple secondary explosions indicate a
significant
amount of explosives or ammunition inside the houses," the statement
said.
-
- It said recent attacks had forced leadership changes
in al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad movement, and last night's strikes had
targeted possible replacement leaders. Tawhid and Jihad has claimed
responsibility
for many car bombings and the beheading of hostages.
-
- The strikes came shortly after Falluja's chief
negotiator,
Sheik Khaled al-Jumeili, ruled out any quick resumption of talks to find
a peaceful solution to the standoff in the city, 40 miles west of
Baghdad.
-
- Oil pipeline attacked
-
- In northern Iraq, saboteurs attacked and set on fire
a key oil pipeline that connects the Beiji oil refinery with Turkey, police
said Tuesday.
-
- The pipeline was hit with explosives late yesterday,
said a Beiji police officer on condition of anonymity. The attack happened
about eight miles from the refinery. Beiji is 155 miles north of
Baghdad.
-
- An official at the state-run Northern Oil Company also
confirmed the attack but did not give details.
-
- Iraq's oil industry, which provides funds for Iraq's
reconstruction efforts, has been the target of repeated attacks by
insurgents
in recent months.
-
- Meanwhile, a 1st Infantry Division Soldier died from
a non-combat injury at a base in Diyala province, the US military said
today.
-
- The soldier was found late on Sunday in his living
quarters
after he did not return to his guard post. The incident is under
investigation.
The name of the soldier is being withheld pending notification of next
of kin.
-
- Britain considers troops request
-
- In London, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said
Britain
needed to redeploy troops closer to Baghdad so that the insurgency in
central
Iraq can be dealt with ahead of Iraqi elections. The government is
considering
a US request for British troops to be moved nearer the Iraqi capital to
free up American forces for anti-insurgency operations. (Read more
here.)
-
- Australia moves embassy
-
- In a response to violence, Australia's government said
today that it was moving its embassy in Baghdad into the strife-torn city's
heavily fortified Green Zone.
-
- On Sunday a car bomb blast close to the Australian
embassy
in the Jadiriyah district killed six people. Authorities believe an Iraqi
police convoy was the target.
-
- Australia's department of foreign affairs said the
embassy
would be moved in the first half of next year.
-
- Australia has 920 troops in and around Iraq and sent
2,000 to take part in last year's US-led invasion.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq
- /Story/0,2763,1330829,00.html
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