Baghdad
Insurgents this week launched a bold daylight attack on the Interior Ministry building in downtown Baghdad. In a 15-minute blitz, four carloads of fighters fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades at the building, killing two policemen before racing away. The group calling itself al Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the attack. The same group said it had taken control of Qaim, a strategically important city on the border with Syria. The al Qaida flag, black with a yellow sun, flew over the city. U.S. Marines in the area told the Associated Press that they did not have enough American or Iraqi troops to retake the city.
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