Iraq

Battles break out throughout north

BAGHDAD - Pitched battles erupted between insurgents and American and Iraqi forces in the northern city of Mosul, and American armored vehicles encircled a town near the Syrian border where the revolt had spread, prompting residents to flee.

In Mosul, carloads of insurgents drove unhindered through parts of the city and attacked security forces on bridges spanning the Tigris River. The fighters barricaded themselves in a police station and then wounded at least 20 Iraqi security commandos, who called for help from an American unit during the ensuing five-hour gunbattle.

Responding to a request from the provincial governor, thousands of Kurdish militiamen from outside Mosul began taking up positions in the streets, and residents said they saw Iraqi army vehicles arriving from the south.

The fighting in Mosul, the country's third-largest city, came on the fourth day of an uprising that has devastated the city's police forces and has created a northern front as the Americans retake Fallujah, 250 miles south.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted insurgent leader in Iraq, may have moved his new base to Mosul from Fallujah, according to a military intelligence report. In recent days, fliers signed by Zarqawi's group have appeared on the streets saying that any looters would be killed.

Guerrilla attacks have also flared in the town of Tal Afar, 30 miles west of Mosul and near the Syrian border. On Sunday, insurgents laid siege to several police stations, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a spokesman for Task Force Olympia. Frightened residents piled into cars and began fleeing the town. American soldiers sealed off roads from the city and searched cars leaving it.

A gunbattle erupted Sunday between militants and U.S. troops in the main market in the northern town of Beiji, killing at least six people and wounding 20 others, according to witnesses.

Saboteurs set fire Sunday to four oil wells in Iraq's northern fields, setting off successive explosions in Khabbaza, 12 miles northwest of Kirkuk, oil officials said.

In other violence...

BAGHDAD: Heavy explosions rattled central Baghdad near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels after nightfall Sunday, followed by bursts of sporadic gunfire. The U.S. military said initial reports indicated rockets or mortars had struck the area, killing two Iraqis and wounding another.

About an hour later, about four large explosions rocked the Green Zone, headquarters of the U.S. and Iraqi leadership. At least one private security guard was killed.

More than a dozen insurgents attacked the Polish Embassy in Baghdad with automatic weapons Sunday, and embassy guards returned fire for a half-hour, a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Warsaw. No one was reported killed or wounded.

RAMADI: A dozen explosions rocked an American base in the western part of Ramadi, about 30 miles west of Fallujah, after insurgents fired missiles. Witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke billowing from the base.

Report: Allawi kin freed

CAIRO - Kidnappers claimed to have released two female relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, according to two pan-Arab satellite channels Sunday. The Iraqi government said it had no knowledge of the release.

Allawi's male cousin, Ghazi Allawi, his wife, and their daughter-in-law were kidnapped by gunmen on Nov. 9 in western Baghdad. A terrorist group, Ansar al-Jihad, threatened to behead them within 48 hours unless all detainees were released and the siege of Fallujah was lifted.

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