Fighting Across Iraq Kills More Than 50

[maddezmom]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. soldiers battled insurgents northeast of Baghdad on Monday in clashes that killed more than 50 people. Some guerrillas were said to be "fighting to the death" inside Fallujah, where American forces struggled to clear pockets of resistance.


At least five suicide car bombers targeted American troops elsewhere in volatile Sunni Muslim areas north and west of the capital, wounding at least nine Americans. Three of those bombings occurred nearly simultaneously in locations between Fallujah and the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, the U.S. command said.


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 (news - web sites), 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
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=1&u=/ap/20041116/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq