BAGHDAD, Feb. 10 -- Insurgents attacked police Thursday in one of Iraq's most dangerous regions, setting off an intense battle that lasted nearly two hours and left at least six officers dead and 20 wounded, the U.S. military said.
The fighting raged in Salman Pak, a town about 15 miles southeast of Baghdad, as insurgents attacked police with mortars and gunfire, the military said. Nearly 20 cars were burning after the clash, one of the largest in weeks. There were no reports of insurgent deaths, but the U.S. military said patrols were pursuing the gunmen.
Salman Pak is on the eastern edge of a region Iraqis have dubbed the "triangle of death," parts of which are so dangerous that many Iraqis are reluctant to travel its roads. Checkpoints manned by insurgents have sprung up along some of the region's highways as well as in such cities as Mahmudiyah and Latifiyah that have occasionally fallen under the sway of gunmen. Restive for months, the region is populated by both Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
News agencies put the death toll at 10 and reported that the fighting was so intense at one point that reinforcements were unable to reach the wounded or recover the dead, who were left in the road. Lt. Col. James Hutton, a U.S. military spokesman, said six police officers were killed in the fighting, which began at 1:45 p.m.
The clash was the bloodiest of several attacks Thursday across Iraq, where insurgents have pursued a campaign against the country's fledgling security forces. The success of those forces in securing Iraq will help determine the pace of a withdrawal of the 150,000 U.S. troops occupying the country.
In Baghdad, a car bomb tore through Liberation Square, a city landmark and one of the capital's busiest traffic circles, after a U.S. convoy drove past. The explosives, packed in a black sport-utility vehicle and apparently detonated by remote control, shattered the windows of nearby shops and destroyed another car. Iraqi police said at least four people were killed.
At the scene, residents directed their anger at security forces and U.S. soldiers for not protecting them and at the insurgents for attacking them. "I don't worry about myself only. I worry about my family, too," said a masked policeman who identified himself as Zaid.
A high school teacher who gave her name as Souad approached him, saying, "How can I feel safe if the man who is supposed to ensure my safety is gripped with fear?"
Other attacks were reported in Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, where a police officer was gunned down at a mechanic's shop, and in Ramadi, a restive town west of the capital. The Associated Press reported that the bodies of five men in Iraqi National Guard uniforms were found there. They were apparently among 13 guardsmen who disappeared earlier this month.
In the northern city of Mosul, where the police chief this week threatened to detain the families of armed men in open-air camps, the U.S. military raided the house of a high-ranking Iraqi National Guard officer, Brig. Gen. Moataz Taqa. Taqa was not home, but soldiers detained four of his men, police in Mosul said.
Iraqis are still awaiting results from last's month vote for a 275-member parliament, as election officials work through a final count and sort out reported irregularities in Mosul and Kirkuk, also in the north. A Western official briefing reporters said the results, originally expected Thursday, could be delayed until next week.
"They have managed an extraordinarily complex operation in a very professional way, but they will be slow," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of election authorities.
In parts of Baghdad, banners of green, red and black went up Thursday to mark the first day of the lunar month of Muharram. For observant Shiites, the month culminates 10 days from now, on Ashura, a commemoration of the death of the prophet Muhammad's grandson in a battle near present-day Karbala. During last year's Ashura, a string of bombings in Karbala and Baghdad killed at least 170 people.
The government said Thursday it would close all of Iraq's borders from Feb. 17 to Feb. 22 to prevent a repeat of last year's carnage.
Iraqi police and the Shiite clerical leadership "are ready for any attack or car bombs like what happened last year," said Akram Zubaidi, a deputy in Karbala of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
Special correspondents Saad Sarhan in Najaf, Hassan Shammeri in Baqubah, Dlovan Brwari in Mosul and Sahar Nageeb in Baghdad contributed to this report.
