Guerrilla Attacks in Iraq Sunni Triangle Kill Nine

[muchacho]

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Guerrillas attacked an Iraqi police post with assault rifles and a grenade Thursday, killing two policemen and a civilian, hours after a mortar attack on a U.S. base killed two soldiers and wounded another.


Insurgents also opened fire Wednesday on a bus carrying Iraqi women home from work at a military base west of Baghdad, killing four women and wounding six others. All the attacks were in the volatile "Sunni triangle" region around Baghdad.

The latest upsurge of violence came amid U.S. talk of handing over political power to an Iraqi administration later this year and a dispute over whether this should be done before or after elections are held.

South of the capital near Diwaniya, a Spanish Civil Guard police commander was shot in the head and seriously wounded during a joint operation with Iraqi police against "members of a terrorist group," the Spanish Defense Ministry said.

Police near Falluja, a hotbed of resistance 30 miles west of Baghdad, said guerrillas in a passing car lobbed a grenade and opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles at a checkpoint on the highway to the town of Ramadi.

"We were standing at our checkpoint and saw some cars come by. From one of them, a grenade was thrown and Kalashnikovs were fired at us," policeman Maher Mohammad said. He said the attackers wore checkered headdresses around their faces.

Two policemen and a civilian were killed in the attack, and five police were wounded. A pool of blood lay on the side of the highway, along with a police vehicle pockmarked by bullets.

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