The zone between Fallujah and Ramadi was one of at least three areas Monday in which insurgents pulled off almost-simultaneous attacks against U.S. or Iraqi forces, suggesting a level of military sophistication and planning not seen in the early months of the insurgency last year. Pressing their own offensive in central and northern Iraq, insurgents attacked police stations, Iraqi security forces, U.S. military convoys and oil installations across a wide area of the Sunni heartland. In a speech found Monday on the Internet, a speaker said to be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the country's most feared terror leader, called on his followers to "shower" the Americans "with rockets and mortars" because U.S. forces were spread too thin as they seek to "finish off Islam in Fallujah."
The worst reported fighting Monday took place about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad after assaults, at almost the same time, on police stations in Baqouba and its twin city, Buhriz. Gunmen abducted police Col. Qassim Mohammed, took him to the Buhriz police station and threatened to kill him if police didn't surrender the station. When police refused, the gunmen tied the colonel's hands behind his back and shot him dead. U.S. and Iraqi troops rushed to the scene, setting off a gunbattle that killed 26 insurgents and five other Iraqi police, Iraqi officials said. At the same time, insurgents attacked a police station in Baqouba and seized another building. U.S. aircraft dropped two 500-pound bombs before the end of the fighting, in which four American soldiers were wounded, the U.S. command said. During the fighting, U.S. troops came under fire from a mosque, the U.S. military said. Iraqi security stormed the mosque and found rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and other weapons and ammunition, the statement said.