Fallujah attack leaves 20 dead, mostly Iraqi police
Attack on compound caps bloody week for pro-coalition Iraqis
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The attack caps a bloody week for Iraqis working with the U.S.-led coalition.
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At least 20 people died when insurgents stormed a police compound in Fallujah, Iraq. CNN's Gaven Morris reports.
South Korea will send 3,000 troops to Iraq, making it the third largest contributor to the coalition effort -- angering antiwar activists.
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FALLUJAH, Iraq -- At least 20 people died and dozens of prisoners were set free when insurgents stormed a police station and a civil defense compound at dawn in Fallujah, Saturday, Iraqi sources said.
The well-planned attack of about 50 insurgents was the latest in a bloody week for Iraqis working with the coalition.
Doctors and other Iraqi sources said most of the dead were police officers and some were civilians. One doctor said four of the dead were suspected insurents At least 30 people were wounded and Fallujah's deputy mayor said 10 suspected attackers were arrested.
Saturday's assault led to an hourlong wild gun battle between insurgents and Iraqi security forces that started in downtown Fallujah and flared out. Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, is the epicenter of of anti-U.S. sentiment in the volatile Sunni Triangle, north and west of the capital.
The attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and AK-47 machine guns, stormed the central police station and freed nearly 100 prisoners. They also struck the headquarters of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, where U.S. Army Gen. John Abizaid's convoy was ambushed Thursday. Abizaid, the head of the U.S. Central Command, and his entourage were unharmed in the attack.
Video of the gun battle showed Iraqi police fighting back, but the police appeared overwhelmed. Two U.S. Humvees were seen speeding along a nearby street.
A suicide car bomber Wednesday killed 47 people, most of them Iraqi men standing in line to join the new Iraqi army, Iraqi medical officials said.
Tuesday a truck bombing killed 55 people near a police station south of Baghdad as Iraqi applicants lined up outside.
In two other attacks Tuesday, two pairs of Iraqi police officers were shot as they drove to work in Baghdad, Interior Ministry sources said.
More than 600 Iraqi security and police forces have been killed since April.
Demonstrations were held in other Iraqi cities Saturday. In Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, protesters rallied against U.S. military actions and demanded the release of thousands of Iraqi prisoners.
The U.S. military is investigating accusations that the U.S. troops abuses Iraqi detainees at the prison.
Also Saturday, in Sulamaniyah, part of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, demonstrators called for Kurdish independence.
Correspondent Gaven Morris in Baghdad contributed to this report
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
