Washington, DC, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- An Iraqi police vehicle was used by a suicide bomber against U.S. forces in downtown Ramadi Monday, injuring 17, at least one of them seriously.
The bomber was dressed as an Iraqi policeman -- his identity is still unknown -- and was directing traffic in eastern Ramadi when a U.S. military convoy rolled by. The man jumped into his vehicle after four Humvees had already passed and when a large, seven-ton truck full of troops came by, according to a U.S. military official.
More than 100 Iraqi police cars and many Iraqi police uniforms have been stolen from police stations throughout Anbar province, where police are frequently targeted by insurgent attacks.
The 17 injured suffered burns, deep cuts and fractures. At least one is very badly injured and may not survive.
The attack is believed to be "spillover" connected to the U.S. attack that has begun in nearby Fallujah, the official told UPI.
November 08. 2004 6:11PM
By The Associated Press
Developments in Iraq on Monday:
- Thousands of U.S. troops backed by thunderous air and artillery barrages launched a ground offensive to seize key insurgent strongholds inside Fallujah, the city that became Iraq's major sanctuary for Islamic extremists who fought Marines to a standstill last April. Iraqi troops were also participating in operations, and took over the Fallujah train station.
- Two Marines were killed when their bulldozer flipped over into the Euphrates River.
- A military spokesman estimated that 42 insurgents were killed across Fallujah in bombardments and skirmishes during the day. A doctor at a clinic in Fallujah, Mohammed Amer, reported 12 people were killed. Seventeen others, including a 5-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, were wounded, he said.
- Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said he gave the green light for international and Iraqi forces to launch the long-awaited offensive against Fallujah, aimed at re-establishing government control before elections set for January.
- Allawi announced he was using emergency powers he was granted the day before to impose a curfew on Fallujah and the nearby town of Ramadi, starting at sundown. All roads into the two cities were closed, and residents were barred from carrying weapons. Also, he announced the borders with Syria and Jordan were sealed, and Baghdad International Airport was closed for 48 hours.
- In Baghdad, militants attacked two churches with car bombs and set off blasts at a hospital, killing at least six people and injuring about 80 others, officials said.
- A U.S. soldier was killed when his patrol was fired on in eastern Baghdad, the military said.
- The Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group that has threatened to boycott elections, condemned the assault on Fallujah, calling it "an illegal and illegitimate action against civilian and innocent people."
- A National Public Radio correspondent embedded with the Marines outside Fallujah reported desertions among the Iraqis. One Iraqi battalion shrunk from over 500 men to 170 over the past two weeks - with 255 members quitting over the weekend, the correspondent said. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld called reports of some Iraqi recruits not showing up to fight "an isolated problem."
- A British soldier was killed and two others wounded in an apparent roadside bombing southwest of the capital, the British Ministry of Defense said.
- Arab leaders were muted in their response to the Fallujah offensive. Media attention focused on ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, which may explain in part why the start of the campaign elicited none of the uproar that met the American attempt to storm the insurgent stronghold in April.
- A Marine major implicated in the death of an Iraqi prisoner testified at his court-martial that he thought the prisoner was uncooperative and faking illness.
Man, the Iraqi Police need new uniforms.
The stolen ones have been used before by the terrorists.