IRAQ: Insurgents launched a brief assault west of Baghdad yesterday, firing mortar rounds and rockets at a US base and local government buildings, the day after Washington unveiled its new strategy for victory in Iraq.
Residents said heavily-armed men wearing masks attacked a US garrison in the centre of Ramadi, a rebellious city 110km west of Baghdad, and fired on nearby council offices before seizing several streets.
Leaflets were distributed saying al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was taking control and promising that "Iraq will be a graveyard for the Americans and their allies". But after a couple of hours most of the militants dispersed and the city returned to relative calm.
The US military, which together with Iraqi forces launched a new operation in the area round Ramadi on Wednesday, played down the assault.
"Reports of insurgents taking control of Ramadi are completely unsubstantiated," marine Capt Patrick Kerr said in an e-mailed statement.
"There have been a few sporadic small-arms engagements, but nothing out of the ordinary."
Ramadi, the capital of the semi-lawless Anbar province, is a base of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency. After US forces crushed Falluja in an offensive in November last year, many insurgents moved west to Ramadi and other Euphrates river towns.
In the new US-Iraqi operation, more than 2,000 soldiers and marines were sent into Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, and surrounding towns on Wednesday to track down militants and try to restore security before parliamentary elections on December 15th.
Residents of Hit demonstrated against the US offensive yesterday, complaining about excessive force and calling for foreign troops to leave their city, local police said. It was the latest in a string of such operations over the past five months in one of Iraq's most dangerous regions.
Al-Zarqawi is believed to be based in the Euphrates river valley, stretching to the Syrian border.
US commanders have said they expect a surge in guerrilla violence in the run-up to the polls, as was seen before elections in January and a nationwide referendum in October.
In Baghdad, gunmen wounded an adviser to Iraq's defence minister and killed one of his bodyguards yesterday in an attack on his convoy, police said. Police sources said the adviser, Saad al-Obeidi, and two other guards were wounded.