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Iraqi Rebels Fire Mortars at Governor's Office

Nov-18-2004 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Iraqi insurgents lobbed mortar shells at the provincial governor's office today in Mosul, wounding four bodyguards and igniting a fuel truck, a U.S. military spokesman said by telephone from the northern city.

"Mosul is stable, but there are isolated pockets where we continue to get small-arms fire or indirect fire,'' said Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings, Task Force Olympia spokesman. ``I would describe it as tense.''

Two mortar rounds cleared concrete barriers that guard the provincial hall, spraying shrapnel and wounding the bodyguards in the attack at about 11:30 a.m. local time, Hastings said. Governor Duraid Kashmoula was unhurt, and the building was undamaged, Hastings said.

The U.S. is trying to quell insurgencies in Mosul and other parts of Iraq before elections scheduled for January to replace the interim Iraqi government. Fighters tested U.S. and Iraqi forces last week when they seized Mosul's police stations and chased away three-quarters of its officers.

The Mosul governor called in U.S. and Iraqi troops to put down the rebellion.

About a quarter of Mosul's 4,000 police are again manning stationhouses, Hastings said. U.S. and Iraqi troops killed about 80 insurgents and dispersed more in restoring order in Iraq's third-largest city, Hastings said.

Trustworthy Police

"We've found the police we can trust, those who stayed and fought,'' Hastings said. "Those with no leadership cut and ran.''

Hastings said the U.S. would vet returning officers and retrain and rearm them. Insurgents stole body armor, hundreds of AK-47 assault rifles, about a thousand police uniforms, and 50 squad cars while occupying stationhouses last week.

"It's very difficult now to discern who is a friend or foe, when it comes to police in uniform,'' Hastings said. "It's a significant concern.''


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