In Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, Iraqi authorities and U.S. forces were struggling to maintain control as insurgents moved at will through large sections of the city, residents said. The military said 10 Iraqi National Guardsmen and one American soldier were killed in Mosul on Thursday.
Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, who commands U.S. forces in Mosul, said combat was "sporadic" Friday and less intense than the day before. Still, the situation was deemed sufficiently difficult that an Army light-armored unit was peeled away from Fallujah to reinforce the U.S. force in Mosul.
The provincial governor called for massive reinforcements to supplement the Mosul police force, which splintered under a wave of insurgent attacks on at least five police stations Thursday. Iraqi National Guard units were being rushed to the city from three directions, as were Kurdish forces from Irbil to the south, the Associated Press reported. The offices of Kurdish political parties were among the buildings attacked in Mosul on Friday.
"We asked the central government in Baghdad, and God willing, they should arrive today," said the provincial governor, Duraid Kashmoula.
He said insurgents had penetrated the local security forces, hastening their partial collapse. Iraq's Interior Ministry fired the city's police chief, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Kheiri Barhawi.
Ham, the American commander, said in an interview with the BBC that "some police did not perform as well as we might like." He told CNN: "It's fair to say there are some with ties to the insurgents. We'd be kidding ourselves if we thought that was not the case."
Insurgents also launched attacks this week in smaller cities across Iraq's midsection, including Baqubah, a restive provincial capital northeast of Baghdad.
Bands of armed men continued to operate in Baghdad. Clashes were reported in the suburb of Abu Ghraib and the west Baghdad neighborhood of Ghazaliya. South of Baghdad, a U.S. soldier was killed and three people were wounded when insurgents attacked a patrol with a roadside bomb, rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
An overflow crowd of worshipers cheered the American setbacks at Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque, where Friday prayers ended with grenade explosions, rifle fire and cries of "Allahu Akbar!" or "God is great!"
"Maybe you are not aware that Mosul is now under the control of the resistance, and all of the province of Anbar beyond Fallujah," said Mohammed Bashar Faydhi, who delivered the sermon. "The Americans have to realize that they need 25 million soldiers to defeat this population of 25 million Iraqis. They don't realize that the more oppressive they become, the more the resistance will grow."
Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian who officials say turned Fallujah into a nerve center for terrorist attacks across Iraq, issued a five-minute audiotape urging on insurgents in Fallujah. His organization, now known as al Qaeda in Iraq, accounts for a significant share of the fighters in the city, but officials said they believed Zarqawi left Fallujah before the fighting began.
"The banner of the jihad has been raised and is waving," he said on the tape. "The arms of the heroes of Islam have grown stronger in Iraq, and the hearts of the people of Islam are pounding with joy and awaiting a growing hope."
Vick reported from Baghdad. Special correspondent Omar Fekeiki contributed to this report.
