Insurgents unleash 17 bombs in Iraq in attempt to rattle new regime

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents set off at least 17 bombs in Iraq yesterday, killing at least 50 people, including three U.S. soldiers, in a series of attacks aimed at shaking Iraq's newly formed government. An audiotape by one of America's most-wanted insurgents, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, warned President Bush there was more bloodshed to come.

The coordinated attacks, which also wounded 114 Iraqis and seven Americans, came as political leaders are trying to curb the insurgency by including all of Iraq's main religious and ethnic groups into an uncertain new Shiite-dominated government that takes office Tuesday. Most of the bombing targets were Iraqi security forces and police, whom insurgents accuse of collaborating with the Americans.

The blasts in Baghdad occurred within the space of a few hours yesterday, sowing panic and underscoring the insurgency's undiminished capacity to stage the kind of spectacular, multiple attacks that sustain its potency.

In an audio statement posted on the Internet, a voice purporting to belong to the Jordanian-born militant al-Zarqawi urged his followers to keep up attacks, saying the mujahedeen are winning the war against "the infidels."

Taped claim for attacks by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

"You, Bush, we will not rest until we avenge our dignity," al-Zarqawi said. "We will not rest while your army is here as long as there is a pulse in our veins." He threatened more attacks against U.S. forces and warned against collaborating with Americans.

In Washington, an intelligence official said the tape appeared to be genuine. On a separate Internet posting, followers of Zarqawi claimed responsibility for two of the attacks.

Military officials said two U.S. soldiers were killed by a car bomb near a town they identified as Dirayah. A third soldier died in an explosion near Taji, about 15 miles north of Baghdad, the military said. Seven U.S. troops were reported wounded in various attacks.

At least 1,575 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

In yesterday's worst incident, four suicide attacks occurred within minutes in the Sunni Muslim neighborhood of Azamiyah in Baghdad, killing 20 people, including 15 soldiers and five civilians, Col. Hussein Mutlak said. At least 65 were injured, including 30 troops and 35 civilians, he said.

Policemen crouched in fear after the explosions, which set fire to the special-forces headquarters. One residential building was severely damaged, its white facade blackened and its first-floor shops destroyed.

MOHAMMED ADNAN / AP Iraqi police secure the area after a suicide attacker blew up an ambulance packed with explosives near a police special-forces patrol, killing four Iraqis, including two policemen on the outskirts of Baqouba.

At the site of one of the bombings, residents gathered around the remains of the suicide bomber strewn on the street, spitting on his severed leg and torso and shouting curses.

"This is not jihad. Nobody in Azamiyah is happy today, nobody accepts that police, soldiers and innocent people are targeted," said Abdul Aziz al-Obaidi, 59, a retired army officer.

Azamiyah is well known as a hotbed of insurgent sympathizers, but the neighborhood had been quiet since Iraqi army units were given control over the area in February in an attempt to replace U.S. soldiers with Iraqi troops on the streets of Baghdad.

In another coordinated attack, insurgents detonated a roadside bomb in Madain, then sent two suicide car bombers from different directions into police special forces as they arrived to investigate, police Lt. Jassim al-Maliky said. At least two more car bombs detonated in the area, one near the city hospital and another targeting a police patrol, police said.

The Madain attacks, which killed 13 people and wounded 20, came less than two weeks after Iraqi forces raided the region to clear it of insurgents. The U.S. military had praised the operation as evidence of Iraq's progress in assuring security.

Although most of yesterday's attacks were against Iraqi and U.S. troops, insurgents also have targeted Shiite Muslim neighborhoods, mosques and religious celebrations in an apparent attempt to spark a sectarian war.

Meanwhile, leaders of Iraq's Sunni minority, which had long held sway over Iraq, complained of a campaign of persecution by officials installed after Saddam Hussein was toppled in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Shiekh Abdel Salaam Kubaysi of the hard-line Muslim Scholars Association said Iraqi special forces raided a number of Sunni mosques early yesterday and detained several imams. Police commandos also raided the association's headquarters at Baghdad's Umm al Qurra mosque andarrested the security chief there, Kubaysi said.

The raids resulted in a violent end at the Al Aqsa mosque in the city of Baqouba, north of Baghdad, authorities said.

U.S. forces surrounded the mosque seeking to arrest Imam Abdel Razaq Rashid Dulaimy. According to local police, the prayer leader came outside carrying two grenades. He threw one at the surrounding forces, but it didn't explode, police said. U.S. soldiers, according to the police, then shot Dulaimy in the leg, causing the second grenade to explode and kill him.

Baqouba also was hit with a bombing yesterday. A suicide attacker blew up an ambulance packed with explosives near a police special-forces patrol, killing four Iraqis, including two policemen. Twenty Iraqis were injured, including four police.

The bombings were a bloody reminder of the huge challenge confronting Iraq's new government as it prepares to take on responsibility for tackling the insurgency and winning the confidence of its citizens.

Iraq's government, headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, is expected to be sworn into office next week. It was formed Thursday after months of wrangling, but al-Jaafari has been unable to fill seven key posts, and the Shiite-dominated Cabinet includes few Sunnis, raising fears that it can neutralize the Sunni-dominated insurgency.

Compiled from reports by The Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.