Attackers wear U.S. uniforms in raid on GIs

Attackers wear U.S. uniforms in raid on GIs
3rd-deadliest day for Americans includes disturbing new tactic
- Ernesto Londono, Washington Post
Monday, January 22, 2007

(01-22) 04:00 PST Baghdad -- The armored sport utility vehicles whisked into a government compound in the city of Karbala with speed and urgency, the way most Americans and foreign dignitaries travel along Iraq's treacherous roads these days.

Iraqi guards at checkpoints waved them through Saturday afternoon because the men wore what appeared to be legitimate U.S. military uniforms and badges, and drove GMC SUVs commonly used by foreigners, the provincial governor said.

Once inside, however, the men unleashed one of the deadliest and most brazen ambushes of U.S. forces in a secure, official area. Five U.S. service members were killed in a hail of grenades and gunfire in a breach of security that Iraqi officials called unprecedented.

The attack, which lasted roughly 20 minutes, came on a day when the United States lost at least 20 other troops, including a dozen in a helicopter crash.

Saturday, the third-most lethal day for U.S. forces in Iraq, coincided with the arrival of 3,200 troops of the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, the first unit to reach Baghdad as part of a 21,500 troop increase that the Bush administration hopes will restore order in the violent capital.

The sophisticated Karbala attack hinted at what could be a new threat for U.S. troops as they start a fresh security plan centered on small bases in Baghdad's bloodiest neighborhoods, where soldiers will live and work with Iraqi forces. Military officials have said that one of their greatest concerns is that troops will be vulnerable to attack from killers who appear to be colleagues.

It is not uncommon for gunmen to impersonate Iraqi security forces, but this seems to be the first time that attackers have tried to disguise themselves as Americans.

U.S. military officials said Sunday the version of events provided by the governor's office was consistent with their preliminary findings.

After arriving at the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, in southern Iraq, the attackers detonated sound bombs, Iraqi officials said.

"They wanted to create a panic situation," said an aide to Karbala Gov. Akeel al-Khazaali, who described the events with the governor's permission but on condition of anonymity because he fears reprisals.

The men then stormed into a room where Americans and Iraqis were making plans to ensure the safety of thousands of people expected to visit the Shiite holy city for an upcoming holiday.

"They didn't target anyone but the American soldiers," the aide said.

After the attack, the assailants returned to their vehicles and drove away. It was unclear how many people participated, and the men's identities and motive remained unclear, but the attack was particularly striking because of the resources and sophistication involved, Iraqi officials said.

One had a sign, in English and Arabic, on its back window warning drivers to stay back, authorities said, a close copy of those used on some official U.S. vehicles. They also said a bag of civilian American clothing, guns and body armor had been found in the vehicles.

The attackers drove toward the city of Babil, north of Karbala, where they shot at guards at a checkpoint, said Capt. Muthana Ahmad, a police spokesman. Vehicles later recovered contained three bodies and one injured individual. The U.S. military took possession of the vehicles, the spokesman said.

The deadliest day for U.S. service members in Iraq also involved a helicopter crash. On Jan. 26, 2005, 37 uniformed Americans died, including 31 when a Marine helicopter crashed in a sandstorm. The second-deadliest day was March 23, 2003, when 28 Americans were killed and Pfc. Jessica Lynch, among others, was captured.

In December 2004, a U.S. base in Mosul was penetrated by a suicide bomber who killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. service members. Saturday's attack appeared to present new dangers: assailants who also disguise themselves as officials and travel in convoys.

"The way it happened and the new style, the province has not seen before," said Abdul Al al-Yasri, head of the provincial council in Karbala. "And this will make us insist on carrying on the security procedures even on official delegates and diplomats when they are coming to Karbala province."

Military officials said Sunday that the cause of the helicopter crash, which killed 12 soldiers northeast of Baghdad on Saturday, remained under investigation. They said they could not confirm accounts by Iraqi officials and civilians who said it was shot down by insurgents in a Sunni Muslim-dominated area of Diyala province. U.S. officials initially reported 13 soldiers died in the crash.

The military also announced that two Marines were killed in separate combat incidents Sunday in Anbar province in western Iraq. The military said four soldiers and one Marine were killed in combat Saturday in Anbar.

Reports of carnage targeting Iraqis also continued. A passenger stepped off a public minivan in central Baghdad, leaving behind a bomb that exploded, killing four police officers and three civilians, said Gen. Sadoun Qasim of the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, at least five people were killed by two improvised explosive devices.

Four Iraqis, including a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old, were killed Friday by a homemade bomb in Yusufiya, south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. An ambulance transporting one of the wounded struck another roadside bomb; that blast caused no injuries.

In Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, a hospital official said the body of a fighter from the insurgent group al Qaeda in Iraq was taken to the hospital after being discovered in a house. The 31-year-old man had been carrying a fake Iraqi passport and a real Saudi one, according to Muhammad Ismail, a doctor at the hospital.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has dropped his protection of an anti-American cleric's Shiite militia after U.S. intelligence convinced him the group was infiltrated by death squads, two officials said Sunday.

In a desperate bid to fend off an all-out U.S. offensive, the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday ordered the 30 lawmakers and six Cabinet ministers under his control to end their nearly two-month boycott of the government. They were back at their jobs Sunday.

Al-Sadr already had ordered his militia fighters not to display their weapons. They have not, however, ceded control of the formerly mixed neighborhoods they have captured, killing Sunnis or forcing them to abandon their homes and businesses.

Al-Maliki's turnaround on the Mahdi Army was puzzling, because as late as Oct. 31, he had intervened to end a U.S. blockade of Sadr City, the Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is headquarters to the militia. It is held responsible for much of the sectarian bloodshed that has turned the capital into a battle zone over the past year.

Security there is this bad? cant even tell them from us?