Double insurgent attacks leave 30 dead

INSURGENTS launched two major attacks yesterday against a Shi’ite mosque and a police station in Baghdad, killing 30 people, including at least 16 police officers, the deadliest insurgent violence in weeks.

In the north, US and Iraqi troops battled gunmen in Mosul, leaving at least 11 guerrillas and a policeman dead, Iraqi commanders said. The fighting in Iraq's third-largest city a centre of violence since a major uprising last month came a day after a US soldier was killed in the city.

Also yesterday, an American soldier was killed and two were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their patrol near the northern city of Kirkuk.

Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida-linked Sunni rebel group claimed responsibility for the attack on the police station in Baghdad's western Amil district. The claim appeared on an Islamic website and could not immediately be verified.

"The destructive effect that such operations have on the morale of the enemy inside and on its countries and people abroad is clear," the claim said.

In the attack, gunmen first shelled the police station near the dangerous road to Baghdad International Airport. Then guerrillas stormed the station, killing 16 policemen, looting weapons, releasing detainees and torching several cars.

The attack on the Shiite mosque occurred in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Azamiyah, a Sunni Muslim stronghold. Police said a car bomb exploded at the Hameed al-Najar Mosque, killing 14 people and wounding 19.

Azamiyah was a major centre of Sunni support for Saddam Hussein, and the targeting of the mosque may have been a bid by Sunnis to stoke civil strife in the area. It wasn't clear who was behind the bombing.

The imam of a Sunni mosque in the same neighbourhood condemned the attack.

"Iraqi resistance has nothing to do with bombing mosques and churches and killing innocent people in markets and streets," said Sheik Ahmed Hassan Al-Taha.

The attacks were the latest against Iraq's police and security services, which have been targeted throughout central, western and northern Iraq in recent weeks.