Tensions high in Iraq on anniversary of Baathist revolution

US forces in Iraq were expecting more trouble today on the anniversary of the 1968 Baathist revolution that brought Saddam Hussein’s political party to power.

Yesterday saw a marked escalation in attacks: Suspected insurgents tried to shoot down a US transport plane with a surface-to-air missile, killed an US soldier in a convoy and gunned down the pro-American mayor of an Iraqi town.

In Washington, new US Central Command chief Gen John Abizaid acknowledged for the first time that his troops were facing a “classical guerrilla-type war situation” and raised the prospect of year-long tours of duty.

Rumours that Saddam would make an appearance somewhere in Iraq today have spread like wildfire.

The former Iraqi dictator and his two sons have not been seen since Baghdad fell on April 9, but he has been heard on several audiotapes in recent weeks calling for attacks on US troops.

In its first act, Iraq’s new Governing Council on Sunday swept aside the July 17 celebration and five other dates that Saddam’s Baath party used to mark as official holidays.

The US military said a surface-to-air missile was fired at a C-130 transport plane as it landed at Baghdad International Airport yesterday.

It was only the second known missile attack on an aircraft using the airport since Baghdad fell, said Spc Giovani Lorente. He said he did not know where the plane came from or whether it was carrying passengers, cargo or both.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Nayil al-Jurayfi, who had actively co-operated with US forces as the new mayor of Hadithah, was killed with one of his sons when his car was ambushed by attackers in the town, 150 miles north-west of Baghdad.

Police captain Khudhier Mohammed said the mayor was apparently killed because he was “seizing cars” from Saddam loyalists. Hadithah is in the “Sunni Triangle” where many Saddam supporters live.

General Abizaid said Iraqi insurgents were not “driving us out of anywhere”.

US soldiers have come under increasingly ferocious attacks by suspected Saddam loyalists in recent weeks – reaching an average of 12 attacks a day.

More than 30 US soldiers have been killed in hostile action since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1.

The Pentagon said that as of Monday, 144 US personnel had been killed in combat since the start of the Iraq war.

At least two US soldiers have been killed in Iraqi attacks since then, bringing the total just short of the 147 killed in combat during the 1991 Gulf War.