Iraqi insurgents kill six police officers

The death, apparently of natural causes unrelated to combat, brought to at least 2,038 the number of US military service members who have died since the Iraq conflict began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Today’s attack on an Iraqi police checkpoint occurred in Buhriz, a town 35 miles north of Baghdad.

The insurgents fired mortar rounds, then arived at the scene in eight cars and began a gunbattle by opening fire on the policemen, a police officer said. At least six policemen were killed and 10 wounded, and it was not immediately known if any militants were hurt, the officer said.

The violence came as majority Shiites began the three-day religious holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which ends a month of fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Most of Iraq’s minority Sunni Arabs began to elebrate the Eid holiday yesterday – based on their different interpretation of the lunar calendar. In war-torn cities such as Baghdad, Sunnis marked the holiday by dressing their children in new outfits, taking them to local amusement parks, and serving lavish meals to friends and relatives at their homes.

In a speech marking Eid in Baghdad today, a top Shiite leader urged voters to support his coalition in Iraq’s December 15 parliamentary election.

Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, told a crowd gathered at his party headquarters that the aim of his candidates is “to protect all Iraqis, not only Shiites but also minority Sunnis and Kurds”.

Two major religious parties – SCIRI and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s Dawa Party – form Iraq’s top Shiite alliance. Both parties have been criticised for their close ties to Iran.

When Iraq elected its current interim parliament on January 30, many Sunnis boycotted the vote, and the Shiite alliance won the biggest share of seats. But many Sunnis are expected to vote in the December 15 ballot for a new parliament, one that will remain in power for four years.

In another development, al-Qaida in Iraq, the country’s most feared insurgent group, issued two claims of responsibility yesterday for recent attacks.

It said it shot down a US helicopter that crashed in Ramadi on Wednesday, killing two Marines. The group, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also said it had sentenced to death two Moroccan Embassy employees who were kidnapped last month in Iraq.

The authenticity of both statements could not be determined.

Roadside bombs, which the US military refers to as “improvised explosive devices”, or IEDs, have accounted for most of the recent US battle deaths in Iraq, despite a vigorous campaign to improve armament on US vehicles and to hunt down insurgent weapons caches.

Last week, for example, 40% of the attacks against US and coalition forces were carried out with IEDs, US Major General Rick Lynch said yesterday. But they accounted for 64% of the US and coalition casualties, he told reporters in Baghdad.

Lynch declined to talk in detail about increased sophistication of roadside bombs, including the use of infrared triggers. British officials say they have seen the use of infrared triggers in attacks against their own forces and suspect the technology has been supplied by Iran, a charge the Iranians have denied.

“We have seen an improvement, an increase, in some instances of tactical capability of these IEDs, and there are indeed different triggers, sensors that cause these things to explode,” Lynch said.

“We have indications through multiple sources that bombs are transferred and technology is transferred, and we’re working with all assets under our control to stop the flow of both of those things. … Neighbours need to be helpful and do their part to stop the insurgency.”

Lynch also said there will probably be an increase in insurgent attacks in an attempt to derail the December 15 election of Iraq’s new parliament.