BAGHDAD, 25 August 2005 — Dozens of insurgents wearing black uniforms and masks launched their boldest assault in Baghdad in weeks, attacking police yesterday with multiple car bombs and small arms fire. Up to 15 people died as Iraqi politicians struggled to end a stalemate over a draft constitution.
Iraq’s president appealed to faction leaders to win Sunni Arab approval for the charter so Parliament can send it to the public in an Oct. 15 referendum. But Sunni clerics condemned the document as too secular and a threat to national unity.
Up to 43 people were wounded in the brazen daylight attack, which began about 3.15 p.m. with three car bombs — two of them piloted by suicide drivers — blasting police patrols in a Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad, police said.
Following the explosions, dozens of gunmen attacked with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, using what the US military refers to as “swarm tactics” — an innovation by an insurgent force that US officials acknowledge is becoming more sophisticated.
US soldiers came under small arms fire but suffered no casualties as they rushed to help the Iraqi police, the US military said. Two US Apache attack helicopters circled overhead during the battle that lasted more than an hour.
Officials gave varying casualty figures. Police Col. Hussein Jaddou said 15 were killed and 43 wounded, including three policemen, two suicide drivers and a gunman. Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said seven insurgents were killed but gave no overall figure.
As gunfire rattled through the streets of the commercial and residential district, merchants hurriedly shuttered their shops and pedestrians ducked for cover. Masked gunmen swaggered brazenly down the sidewalk, brandishing Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. At least one police car was set ablaze.
The insurgents may have filmed their attack, a witness said. Two young men were seen driving slowly among the insurgents, apparently recording the scenes with a TV camera.
Car bombs and assassinations occur in Baghdad almost daily. But daylight assaults by dozens of insurgents have declined sharply since Iraqi and US forces regained control of the notorious Haifa Street early this year.
Earlier yesterday, Deputy Justice Minister Awshoo Ibrahim escaped a second assassination attempt in two days when gunmen fired at his convoy in western Baghdad, killing four of his bodyguards and wounding five, police said.
And in Najaf, fights broke out between rival Shiite groups, killing five people and prompting officials to warn that disorder would only delay the planned withdrawal of US forces.
In Baghdad, President Jalal Talabani, a prominent Kurdish leader, said stability cannot be achieved without consensus among Iraq’s Shiites, Sunnis Arabs and Kurds. Representatives of the communities are to meet today.
