BAGHDAD, Dec 29: At least 30 people were killed in Baghdad on Tuesday night when guerillas detonated three-quarters of a ton of explosives in a house that police were raiding, flattening neighbouring homes.
In the northern city of Mosul, US troops clashed with Iraqi fighters after a fuel truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded near an American position in the south of the city, witnesses said. There was no word on casualties. US jets screamed overhead and explosions and gunfire shook the area.
Attacks this week on police and other Iraqi security forces have left dozens dead in a sign that the guerilla warfare, freshly endorsed by Osama bin Laden, remains effective despite US offensives intended to protect the election on Jan 30.
The US military said some three-quarters of a ton (1,800 pounds) of explosive may have gone off as police entered the building in Baghdad's Ghazaliya district.
Six policemen were among the 30 dead and four officers were missing, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. Witnesses saw at least one more dead woman dug from the rubble of at least three houses razed by the massive blast.
In addition to the dead, another 21 people were wounded. "When the police arrived and went in, the house blew up," the ministry spokesman said. "It seems to have been a trap."
However, it was not clear whether or not the call from a neighbour had been intended to lure them in. Neighbours said they had called police after becoming suspicious of a foreign-looking dark-skinned man in the house, which they said had been rented this week and filled with boxes.
"The house was turned into a bomb," a police officer said. Three houses were razed to piles of bricks and rubble, while half a dozen others were damaged. Entire families were wiped out, neighbours said.
BUSH ON OSAMA: US President George Bush said Osama's audio message underlined the importance of the election, which he said pitted the desire for democracy and freedom against the militant's "dark vision" of oppression and bloodshed.
"It's very important that these elections proceed," he told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where he is on vacation. "The task at hand is to provide as much security as possible for the election officials as well as for the people inside cities like Mosul to encourage them to express their will."
There were renewed clashes in Samarra. A US assault there three months ago was meant to quell the uprising before the vote, which should hand over power to the people. Four men in police and National Guard uniforms were found dead in Yusufiya, south of Baghdad. One had been shot, the others beheaded.
STRING OF ATTACKS: Much of the violence appears to be intended as a dramatic show of force by militants, a day after Osama publicly endorsed Zarqawi as Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq and declared holy war on US and Iraqi forces.
In central Samarra, guerillas clashed with US and Iraqi forces, witnesses said. US helicopters circled and gunfire could be heard. Shops were shut and the area was deserted.
An Iraqi National Guardsman was killed in nearby Siniya, where more than 100 guardsmen walked out after their commander was killed by a car bomb along with several guards this month.
The timing of the various attacks and the broadcast of Osama's tape seemed coincidental, but together they racked up the pressure on Iraqi voters to stay at home on Jan. 30, and seemed designed to instil fear in Iraq's new security forces.
Both have grave implications for US prospects in Iraq. Osama's call for a boycott of the election and his endorsement of Zarqawi will find few willing supporters in Iraq. But the threat of being killed will put many off voting anyway. -Reuters
US forces kill 25 militants
MOSUL: In another fighting, American troops backed by warplanes battled insurgents in the Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, killing around 25 guerillas in fierce clashes after being attacked by suicide bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.
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