Violence Erupts Across Iraq; 69 Are Killed, AP Says

June 24 (Bloomberg) — Violence erupted today across Iraq, with insurgents targeting police and U.S. forces in Baghdad, Mosul, Ramadi, Fallujah and Baquba, the U.S.-led coalition said. At least 69 people died, including three U.S. soldiers, the Associated Press said, citing the Iraqi Health Ministry.

The attacks come as the coalition prepares to hand over power in six days to an interim Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Iraqi and U.S. officials predicted such an upsurge in violence as the June 30 transfer approaches. The Health Ministry said 268 people were injured today, Agence France-Presse reported.

Tawhid wa al-Jihad, a group linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, alleged to be an al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, is blamed by authorities for many attacks in the country in recent weeks. A statement issued in al-Zarqawi’s name and posted on a Saudi Web site included a claim of responsibility for today’s attacks in Baquba, U.S.-based ABC News reported.

“These attacks are no longer just attacks on the coalition, they are attacks on the government of Iraq,” U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, Tom Kelly, told reporters in London. “They are designed to stop the transition of power. They will not succeed.”

Al-Zarqawi Message

Al-Zarqawi called on residents to “comply with the instructions of resistance,” ABC said, citing the statement on the Web site. “These days are going to witness campaigns and attacks against the occupation troops and those who stand beside them,” according to the message.

At least 50 people died in five car bombings in Mosul, AP said, citing a hospital official. Three of the bombs in Mosul injured five U.S. soldiers and five Iraqis near police and civil defense force buildings and a hospital, said a military spokesman in Baghdad who declined to be identified. AFP said seven policemen and a U.S. soldier are among the dead in Mosul.

In the ambush in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, two U.S. soldiers also were killed and at least seven wounded while on patrol early today, said Master Sergeant Robert Powell by telephone from Tikrit. The house of the provincial police chief and a government building were also attacked, he said. Seventeen Iraqis died in Baquba, AFP said.

Air Strikes

Coalition aircraft dropped three 500-pound bombs on insurgent targets in Baquba at about 9 a.m. Iraqi time, the U.S. military said in an e-mailed statement.

In Baghdad, two members of the Iraqi National Guard and two civilians were killed when a car bomb exploded as a coalition patrol passed at 11:20 a.m., according to a U.S. military statement. One National Guard soldier and one coalition soldier were wounded in the attack, the military said.

A police station in Ramadi, west of the capital, was attacked by insurgents, U.S. Marines Major Thomas Johnson said. A U.S. helicopter made an emergency landing after being fired at from Fallujah without injury to the crew, he said. U.S. forces carried out air strikes on insurgents in the city, he said.

“As we get closer to June 30, we expect to see more attacks on targets like the police,” said Johnson by satellite phone from Fallujah, which was the scene of a siege in April. The insurgents are “trying to disrupt the peace and Iraqi sovereignty. It’s unfortunate, but it’s not a surprise.”

Reuters