Guerrillas in Iraq attacked a police station, killing 13 officers, and tried to assassinate a National Guard general with a car bomb this morning, hours after Osama bin Laden threw his weight behind the insurgent campaign.
Attacks on Iraq's US-backed security forces may be partly aimed at disrupting next month's election; bin Laden called on Iraqis to boycott the vote and endorsed Mr Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi as al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, racking up intimidation that could wreck Washington's hopes for a legitimate new government.
Hours after the purported bin Laden audiotape was broadcast on Al Jazeera television, calling anyone who voted an "infidel," insurgents in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit mounted a dawn raid on a police station, killing 13 and wounding two.
The timing seemed coincidental in a daily round of violence. But it was a reminder of the potency of the apparent alliance between international Sunni Islamists like the Jordanian Zarqawi and Iraqi nationalists from Saddam's Sunni Arab minority, who see elections handing power to majority Shi'ites.
"They attacked with many weapons," police Major Ali al-Tikriti said. It was not clear if the guerrillas suffered any casualties in the attack at about 7:30 am.
In Baghdad, a general in the National Guard survived a suicide car bomb attack as he left for work, police said. Six people were wounded. Major General Mudher al-Mula was a Shi'ite staff officer in Saddam's Sunni-dominated armed forces.
Those who join the National Guard are viewed as traitors by the guerrillas. Four were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their convoy in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, an officer said.
If violence and intimidation keeps a disproportionate number of the 20-percent Sunni minority at home on January 30th, it is not clear what Washington may do to ensure the resulting assembly and government are seen as legitimate by most Iraqis.
The most prominent Sunni religious group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, pulled out of the election yesterday, saying violence in the Sunni north and west meant it could not be fair.
US intelligence officials have concluded the audiotape on which Osama bin Laden urges Iraqis to boycott January's elections is likely genuine. While the sound quality on the tape is not very good, technical analysis suggests the tape is authentic, an official said.