Police found the decapitated and bound bodies of nine policemen in an al Qaeda stronghold in Iraq today, as US commanders blamed the militant group for chlorine gas bombs that poisoned hundreds in the same province.
Anbar, a Sunni Arab province west of Baghdad, has long been among the most troublesome areas of Iraq for the US military, which is sending additional combat troops there to fight insurgents and al Qaeda militants engaged in an escalating power struggle with local Sunni tribesmen.
Iraqi police Colonel Tareq al-Theybani said the bodies, which bore signs of torture, were discovered in an abandoned post office in the town of Juwayba, near the city of Ramadi, capital of Anbar province.
A US military spokesman, meanwhile, said al Qaeda was behind the chlorine gas car bomb attacks earlier this week which killed at least two and made hundreds ill in villages near the city of Falluja. But, he said, tight Iraqi security measures had prevented a higher number of casualties.
Friday's apparently coordinated attacks by two suicide bombers driving dump trucks carrying chlorine and another smaller car bomb that also released chlorine came weeks after two similar attacks sparked fears of a new campaign to use unconventional weapons in Iraq.
Rear Admiral Mark Fox said one of the attackers detonated his explosives when he was unable to get past an Iraqi checkpoint, killing only himself, and avoiding more casualties.
"Steps and measures are being taken to protect people from car bombs," Fox told reporters at a news conference.
US commanders have warned that while the number of murders and executions have fallen sharply in Baghdad since a US- backed security crackdown was launched in mid-February, car bombs by suspected Sunni Arab insurgents blamed for trying to incite sectarian civil war remain a serious concern.
A car bomb at a crowded market in a mainly Shia neighbourhood of northern Baghdad killed six people and wounded 30, police said today. Five bodies were also found in different parts of Baghdad today, a police source said.