CNN Story
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The latest series of audacious attacks in Iraq has continued with a missile attack on a transport plane and deadly bombings on two police stations, the U.S. military said.
Nine Iraqis were killed on Saturday in Khan Bani Sa'ad, about 12 miles (20 km) north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove a car into a police station, Captain Ryan McCormick said. The bomber also died.
As he sped into the station shortly before 8 a.m., Iraqi police fired AK-47s at his vehicle and the car -- laden with explosives -- detonated, McCormick said.
Six Iraqi police, three civilians and the driver died in the attack, he said.
There is a huge crater in front of the police station and full damage is still being assessed. There are reports of a live grenade inside the police compound and no one is allowed inside, McCormick said.
At about the same time, a car bomb hit the Baquba police station about 50 miles (80 km) north of Baghdad, the officials said.
The U.S. military reported 15-25 civilian casualties. CNN's Jane Arraf said some civilians died in the attack but it is not yet clear how many. No coalition soldiers were injured in the attack.
Also on Saturday morning, a DHL courier plane safely landed at Baghdad International Airport after a heat-seeking, surface-to-air missile hit one of its engines, according to military sources at the airport. No one was injured.
The aircraft had just taken off when it was hit by the SAM-7, sources said. One of the engines was set on fire, which was extinguished after the plane landed, the sources said.
Missiles have been fired several times at planes approaching the airport, Arraf said but Saturday's incident was the first time a fixed-wing aircraft had been hit.
The U.S. military has stepped up its offensive against the anti-coalition insurgency throughout central Iraq, hammering guerrilla targets in Baghdad, Baquba and other towns in the region where opposition to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq runs high.
Saturday's attacks come a day after rockets launched from donkey-pulled carts hit the Iraqi Oil Ministry and two heavily guarded hotels.
Two people were wounded, one of them a U.S. civilian at the Palestine Hotel, which houses Western journalists and coalition contractors. A bellboy at the Sheraton Hotel had minor wounds.
The oil ministry building was hit by seven to 10 rockets, a U.S. military commander said. There were no known casualties, and the launchers were later recovered.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt described Friday's attacks as "sensational" but "militarily insignificant."
He said the strikes reflected the low-tech ingenuity guerrillas employ in fighting the high-tech might of a coalition struggling for solid grass-roots information about the elusive insurgents.
"No matter how high-tech you are, no matter how proficient you are, no matter how professional your soldiers are ... we are still dependent to a great degree on actionable intelligence," said Kimmitt, the coalition's deputy chief of operations.
Kimmitt said intelligence-gathering was "getting better every day" but was not good enough yet.
"Do we have enough actionable intelligence? No. The lack of actionable intelligence, does that allow donkeys to sneak in and fire rockets? Yes."
Calling the insurgents "ingenious," Kimmitt said they were "a very clever enemy who knows that we don't have the best intelligence in the world" and will exploit that weakness.
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The latest series of audacious attacks in Iraq has continued with a missile attack on a transport plane and deadly bombings on two police stations, the U.S. military said.
Nine Iraqis were killed on Saturday in Khan Bani Sa'ad, about 12 miles (20 km) north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber drove a car into a police station, Captain Ryan McCormick said. The bomber also died.
As he sped into the station shortly before 8 a.m., Iraqi police fired AK-47s at his vehicle and the car -- laden with explosives -- detonated, McCormick said.
Six Iraqi police, three civilians and the driver died in the attack, he said.
There is a huge crater in front of the police station and full damage is still being assessed. There are reports of a live grenade inside the police compound and no one is allowed inside, McCormick said.
At about the same time, a car bomb hit the Baquba police station about 50 miles (80 km) north of Baghdad, the officials said.
The U.S. military reported 15-25 civilian casualties. CNN's Jane Arraf said some civilians died in the attack but it is not yet clear how many. No coalition soldiers were injured in the attack.
Also on Saturday morning, a DHL courier plane safely landed at Baghdad International Airport after a heat-seeking, surface-to-air missile hit one of its engines, according to military sources at the airport. No one was injured.
The aircraft had just taken off when it was hit by the SAM-7, sources said. One of the engines was set on fire, which was extinguished after the plane landed, the sources said.
Missiles have been fired several times at planes approaching the airport, Arraf said but Saturday's incident was the first time a fixed-wing aircraft had been hit.
The U.S. military has stepped up its offensive against the anti-coalition insurgency throughout central Iraq, hammering guerrilla targets in Baghdad, Baquba and other towns in the region where opposition to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq runs high.
Saturday's attacks come a day after rockets launched from donkey-pulled carts hit the Iraqi Oil Ministry and two heavily guarded hotels.
Two people were wounded, one of them a U.S. civilian at the Palestine Hotel, which houses Western journalists and coalition contractors. A bellboy at the Sheraton Hotel had minor wounds.
The oil ministry building was hit by seven to 10 rockets, a U.S. military commander said. There were no known casualties, and the launchers were later recovered.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt described Friday's attacks as "sensational" but "militarily insignificant."
He said the strikes reflected the low-tech ingenuity guerrillas employ in fighting the high-tech might of a coalition struggling for solid grass-roots information about the elusive insurgents.
"No matter how high-tech you are, no matter how proficient you are, no matter how professional your soldiers are ... we are still dependent to a great degree on actionable intelligence," said Kimmitt, the coalition's deputy chief of operations.
Kimmitt said intelligence-gathering was "getting better every day" but was not good enough yet.
"Do we have enough actionable intelligence? No. The lack of actionable intelligence, does that allow donkeys to sneak in and fire rockets? Yes."
Calling the insurgents "ingenious," Kimmitt said they were "a very clever enemy who knows that we don't have the best intelligence in the world" and will exploit that weakness.
