Iraqi insurgents hit back hard despite US attacks [View All]

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ALI625369.htm

BAGHDAD, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. military hails its latest offensive in Iraq as a great success, but militants have captured the headlines with a bloody wave of attacks in Baghdad and a blunt declaration of war on majority Shi'ite Muslims.

Days after U.S. and Iraqi troops attacked insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq called for all-out war on Shi'ites and claimed responsibility for violence that included a suicide bombing on day labourers that killed at least 114 in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad.

That was just one of 14 attacks in the city on Wednesday alone, according to the U.S. military. On Thursday 24 police were killed in two bombings and a suicide car bomber killed nine people at a Shi'ite mosque north of Baghdad on Friday.

The spate of violence is clearly designed to counter U.S. assertions that they are winning the war against insurgents.