Gunmen Rampage Through Samarra

BAGHDAD â€”  Gunmen stormed the former insurgent bastion of Samarra in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least two elite police commandos and injuring as many as six.

Witnesses said armed men in up to 10 cars marauded through the historic shrine city on the Tigris River that is filled with archeological treasures. The gunmen attacked a building used by security forces, firing mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades. They then surrounded the hospital and began shooting at it until Iraqi and U.S. reinforcements showed up, witnesses said.

Last summer, Samarra was the site of a U.S.-led assault intended to rid the city of insurgents. Residents said tensions in the city had spiked after security forces raided a pharmaceutical factory Tuesday.

Wednesday’s clash came on the heels of a speech by President Bush on Tuesday night in which he vowed to keep American troops in Iraq indefinitely.

Elsewhere in Iraq, an insurgent group with ties to the Al Qaeda terrorist network claimed responsibility in an Internet posting for the execution of Kamal Khaled Zebari, a Kurdish security officer in the city of Mosul.

“After he admitted assisting crusader forces since they entered Iraq, the rule of God was implemented and he was executed by firing squad,� said the statement by Ansar al Sunna.

In Baghdad, a mortar round landed in the parking lot of the popular Babel Hotel on Wednesday night, injuring two people and shattering the calm on a relatively quiet day in the capital. There was no official word on casualties.

Earlier in the day, Iraqis mourned the death of Ahmed Wael Bakri, a television director who was shot to death Tuesday, allegedly by U.S. forces who mistook him for an insurgent. Bakri, senior manager of the popular Al Sharqiya satellite channel, was attempting to avoid an accident when he was fired on from a military convoy, a network official said.

“This was just an accident,� said Riyadh Salman, an on-air television personality. “But I say, why don’t they hit the person in a leg or arm or even try to damage his car? Why do they always shoot to kill?�

In former President Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, witnesses said a demonstration was held Wednesday morning to protest the arrest of regional police commander Maj. Gen. Mizher Taha Ghanam, who was lured to the capital and detained. Protesters said the arrest would only exacerbate tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Ghanam, a Sunni and a former intelligence officer, is accused of killing Shiites in the southern city of Amarah during Hussein’s rule.

Iraq’s Sunnis, favored under the deposed government of Hussein, have largely opposed the new, U.S.-backed government, which is dominated by Shiites.

On Wednesday, many Sunnis reacted with disappointment to Bush’s speech, complaining that he had not outlined new policies, announced new initiatives, appointed personnel or set dates for a withdrawal.

“The presence of the American forces doesn’t solve the problem. It only makes it more complicated,� said Khalaf Aliyan, leader of the National Dialogue Council, a Sunni umbrella group. “The forces have to have a schedule for withdrawing from Iraq. Iraqis are fighting now because the troops are here. If they leave, they won’t have justification for fighting.�

But some members of the community were heartened by Bush’s assurances that Sunnis also were denied their basic rights under Hussein and are essential to Iraq’s future.

“This is the first time Bush mentioned the Sunni Arabs in his speech since the occupation of Iraq,� said Mishaan Jaburi, a Sunni member of the transitional National Assembly. “This is a positive change.�

Among Iraq’s Kurds and Shiites, who suffered under the rule of successive Sunni-dominated governments, many expressed relief that Bush had announced no plans to set a timeline for pulling out.

“Now, their presence is necessary and withdrawal is a risk,� said Jamal Abdul-Kareem, 52, who runs a grocery store in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood.

“There are many terrorist groups. [The U.S.] presence benefits us until our police and army will be trained and equipped.�

Hussein Kurdi, a 42-year-old refrigerator repairman of Kurdish descent whose brothers were executed by Hussein, said he feared the consequences of a U.S. withdrawal.

“If the Americans withdraw, I expect that those who were controlling and oppressing us will return and take the reins of power,� he said.

But even Iraqis who approve of the continued presence of U.S. troops criticized the president for labeling Iraq “the latest battlefield� in the war on terrorism, which his administration declared after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

“Iraq was clear of terrorists before the entrance of U.S. troops,� said Haithem Mahmoud, 33, a doctor in Najaf. “It is like they transferred the war on terrorism to Iraq.�

Zainab Hussein, Saif Rasheed and Asmaa Waguih of The Times’ Baghdad Bureau and special correspondents in Najaf, Samarra and Tikrit contributed to this report.