Assassinations surge in Iraq

BAGHDAD - Sunni Arab extremists have begun a systematic campaign to assassinate police chiefs, police officers, other Interior Ministry officials, and tribal leaders throughout Iraq, staging at least 10 attacks in 48 hours.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said, a soldier was killed yesterday in Diyala province after an explosive detonated near his vehicle.

Eight policemen have been killed, among them the police chief of Baquba, the largest city in Diyala province. Two other police chiefs survived attacks, though one was left in critical condition, and about 30 police officers have been wounded, according to reports from local security officers.

"We warned the government just a few days ago that there is a new plan by terrorist groups to target senior governmental officials, and particularly Interior Ministry officials," said Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, the deputy interior minister for information and national investigations. The Interior Ministry is dominated by Shiites.

One group, the Islamic State of Iraq, took responsibility yesterday for the attack in Diyala, which killed at least 18 people on Monday. The group has ties to al Qaeda in Iraq, according to American intelligence officials.

In addition to the attack on Monday in Diyala, insurgents have struck in Basra, Mosul, Kirkuk, Fallujah, Kut and Samarra. The strikes occurred primarily in mixed areas of Shiites and Sunni Arabs or in exclusively Sunni Arab areas where there is fighting between Sunni Arab tribes and extremist groups such as al Qaeda in Iraq.

No attack on its own would be notable, since almost every day in Iraq brings a few roadside bombings and shootings. But so many attacks singling out similar victims suggests a more concerted campaign.

The assassination campaign was announced on an Islamist Web site on Sept. 15, just two days after the killing of Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, also known as Abu Risha, the Sunni Arab leader of the tribal Awakening Council in Anbar province, which was leading the fight there against al Qaeda in Iraq.

In an audiotape, the militants announced they would begin a new series of attacks to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and that they would focus their efforts on rival tribal figures and collaborators.

That promise seemed to have been borne out in the Baquba and Samarra attacks. In both, the targets were meetings in which tribal figures and Iraqi officials were discussing efforts to defeat al Qaeda in Iraq. *