One day after at least 160 people killed and some 570 wounded, attacks continued on Thursday, killing at least 30 people. In the first attack, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a police patrol in Baghdad, killing at least 16 members of an elite unit, said a police official, according to Reuters. The bomber in the district of Dora attacked the force as they were riding in a truck. At least 21 people were injured.
Later, two suicide car bombers struck within a minute of each other just a half mile apart in south Baghdad shortly before noon Thursday, killing at least seven policemen.
A roadside bomb hit a Ministry of Industry bus Thursday in eastern Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding 13, said police Lt. Col. Ahmed Abbod.
In the city of Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, attackers detonated a roadside bomb next to a passing patrol, killing two police officers and wounding four, said Col. Anwar Hassan, head of the local security unit.
In Baqouba, one policeman was killed and three wounded in separate attacks. A police major was shot to death in Samarra, north of Baghdad, after being abducted by masked gunmen.
These latest attacks came hours after Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, purportedly declared "all-out war" on Shiites, Iraqi troops and the government in an audiotape posted Wednesday on an Internet site. "Beware, there will be no mercy," he said. "If proven that any of (Iraq's) national guards, police or army are agents of the Crusaders, they will be killed and his house will be demolished or burnt" as a punishment."
On his part, Iraqi Defense Minister Sadoun al-Dulaimi on Thursday vowed to crash Zarqawi and his followers. "We will not retreat or be silent. There will be no room for you in entire Iraq. We will chase you wherever you go," he said.
