Insurgents attacked a police station and a government building on Saturday, sparking a gunbattle, killing 15 people and wounding 22 others, police and hospital officials said. The gunmen, riding in vehicles, opened fire on the buildings with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, police officer Essam Yaseen said. The wounded included five policemen and three civilians. The two buildings are about a half mile apart. In the gunbattle that ensued, Iraqi security forces took cover under a hail of gunfire, hiding in doorways and around corners. A petrol bomb burned in the street and a rocket-propelled grenade could be heard whizzing by. Abdul Hamid al-Janabi, a security official at Fallujah hospital, said at least 15 people were killed. Of the 22 wounded, 19 were policemen, along with two women and a child. The dead included policemen and civilians, al-Janabi said. Two of the attackers were killed, he said, though it was not clear if they were counted among the 15. Two wounded attackers brought to the hospital were arrested, he said.
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Iraqi police hit in daring resistance raid
An estimated 21 people have been killed and 35 wounded after suspected anti-occupation fighters attacked a police station and local government building in the Iraqi town of Falluja. In separate but coordinated attacks the gunmen, driving in three cars, opened fire on the buildings with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, said police officer Issam Yasin. In the first incident, up to 50 attackers stormed the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps compound, firing mortars, explosives and light machine guns. The assault sparked a fierce exchange of gunfire with ICDC members. According to Aljazeera's correspondent, 19 people were killed in that attack. "Their weapons were more powerful than our kalashnikovs," a police office was quoted as saying. Fourteen of the slain were police officers. The attackers went from room to room, freeing about 100 prisoners held in the compound, another police officer said. It was not known if the escapees included suspected resistance fighters.
The gunmen also attacked the local mayor's office, about a kilometre away. There, two Iraqi policemen were killed, according to Aljazeera's correspondent. A hospital official confirmed several people had been brought in for treatment. Of the wounded, most were policemen, though two women and a child were among the injured, a security official at Falluja hospital, Abd al-Hamid al-Janabi said. Two wounded fighters brought to the hospital were arrested, he said. Police were still on high alert hours after the blast, maintaining positions on the rooftops of police stations and government buildings. Aljazeera's correspondent reports that the situation in the town is tense, after a curfew imposed to "control security". |