BAGHDAD ø Sunni insurgents have renewed a campaign against Iraqi
security forces and employees of the U.S.-led military coalition.
About 40 Iraqis were killed on Sunday in a series of Sunni attacks on
Iraqi forces and employees of the U.S. military. Officials said 17 Iraqi
employees of the U.S. military were killed as they were heading for their
jobs at a U.S. military facility in Tikrit.
Another four Iraqi security forces were killed in other Sunni strikes in
the Tikrit area, officials said. They said insurgents sprayed semi-automatic
fire toward buses carrying the Iraqis to work, Middle East Newsline reported.
Officials said the U.S. military has assessed that the latest strikes
reflect a new tactic of the Sunni insurgency. They said Sunni insurgents
appear to have returned to the use of small squads for hit-and-run
operations against the coalition and Iraqi security forces in wake of the
massive U.S. attack on Faluja, regarded as the base of the Sunni command.
So far, nearly 350 Iraqi government employees or workers for the
coalition have been killed since October 2004. Officials said about 80
people have been killed in Sunni insurgency strikes over the last three
days.
"They'll fight in small teams," Brig. Gen. John DeFreitas, the chief of
U.S. Army intelligence in Iraq, said. "We get some sense that they're
thinking of adopting more guerrilla-type tactics ø small teams,
hit-and-run."
In Mosul, Sunni insurgents struck Kurdish security forces in a suicide
car bombing. Officials said 17 officers were killed when two cars packed
with explosives rammed into the Kurdish Peshmerga convoy on Dec. 4. The
Tawhid and Jihad group led by Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi claimed responsibility.
Sunni insurgents also struck Baghdad over the weekend. Two car bombs
exploded in the Iraqi capital on Sunday, in which four police officers were
killed and another 49 were injured. Al Zarqawi also claimed responsibility
for that attack.
U.S. military units were also targeted in the Sunni campaign. At least
four coalition soldiers were killed over the weekend in roadside bomb
strikes in Baghdad and Baquba.
Two other American soldiers were killed and four others were injured in
Mosul on Dec. 4. Officials said the soldiers, members of Task Force Olympia,
were conducting a patrol when they were fired on from a mosque.
U.S. troops also detained 64 suspected insurgents in Mosul and collected
a large amount of weapons and munitions. The weapons included 120 mm, 82 mm
and 60 mm mortar tube and rounds. The cache also included 12
chemical-protective masks, two chemical protective suits and a set of
night-vision goggles.
The U.S. military also announced deliveries of weapons and equipment to
Iraq's military and security forces. The equipment delivered in November
included 5,400 AK-47 assault rifles, about 2,000 9 mm Glock pistols, 78
rocket-propelled grenade launchers, armored personnel carriers and four
Russian-designed battle tanks.
