BAGHDAD, 30 November 2004 — In the latest insurgent attack on Iraq’s beleaguered security forces, a suicide car bomber plowed into policemen waiting to collect their salaries at a police station west of Ramadi yesterday killing 12 policemen.
At least 10 people were wounded in the blast, and 90 percent of the casualties were policemen, said Nazar Al-Hiti, a doctor in the town of Hit around 200 km (125 miles) west of Baghdad, where the dead and wounded were taken.
In Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded as a US patrol went past, killing two American soldiers and wounding three. Thirteen US soldiers and two foreign civilians were also wounded in a mortar attack south of Baghdad.
Insurgents trying to drive out US-led soldiers and topple the government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi have repeatedly attacked Iraqi police and soldiers. The US military has warned that violence will worsen in Iraq as elections scheduled for Jan. 30 approach.
Leading Sunni political parties want the elections postponed, saying their supporters will not be able to vote freely due to guerrilla violence mainly in Sunni areas of Iraq.
Sunnis make up only around 20 percent of Iraq’s population but dominated the ruling elite during the rule of Saddam Hussein. Several Sunni parties say they will boycott the elections unless the government agrees to postpone them.
But parties representing Iraq’s 60 percent Shiite majority, oppressed under Saddam, are demanding that the polls go ahead on time to cement their political dominance in the new Iraq. Backed by Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Shiite parties have refused to accept any delay, saying that would mean giving in to guerrilla violence.
The government has called for major religious and political leaders to meet in Baghdad today in the hope of finding unity with just two months to go before the poll. It was not immediately clear who would attend the meeting.
The US military has said it will move into rebel-held areas by the end of the year to pacify them ahead of the elections. Earlier this month, a major US offensive crushed guerrillas in the insurgent bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
