6 Iraqi security personnel slain in separate attacks

BAGHDAD -- Gunmen killed six Iraqi security personnel Saturday, including a pair of sleeping policemen who were shot and set on fire, at a time of persistent debate over whether Iraqi forces can protect the country as U.S. troops leave.

The early-morning shootings at Baghdad checkpoints demonstrated the insurgents' apparent aim to weaken confidence in the government and aggravate sectarian tension as all but 50,000 U.S. troops head home by the end of this month.

In the first attack, gunmen armed with silenced pistols killed two policemen asleep in their patrol car at a security checkpoint in the Shiite-dominated New Baghdad neighborhood, said an officer with the federal police in Baghdad. The assailants then set the car on fire and fled, he said.

A half-hour later, a drive-by shooting at a checkpoint killed two more policemen in the Amil area, another Shiite neighborhood, in southwestern Baghdad, two other police officials said.

About the same time, gunmen attacked a checkpoint staffed by government-backed Sunni fighters from groups known as Awakening Councils in the mostly Shiite Shaab district in the capital's northeast. One of the fighters was killed, and two were injured, the police officials said.

Hours later, a bomb attached to a policeman's personal car killed the driver and wounded two passengers, who were also policemen, officials said. The blast occurred outside Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town about 90 miles north of Baghdad.

As the number of U.S. soldiers dwindles at a rate of about 4,000 a week, insurgents have stepped up attacks on Iraqi security forces, demonstrating remaining vulnerabilities. Checkpoints continue to be easy targets, and traffic police -- many of whom are unarmed -- have also been slain in recent weeks.

Last year, President Obama ordered all but 50,000 U.S. troops to leave Iraq by Aug. 31 as part of his campaign promise to end what he once termed "a dumb war." Under a security agreement between both nations, all U.S. troops are to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

But fears that Iraq's security forces won't be able to fend for themselves have been voiced more urgently as the end-of-the-month deadline nears. This week, Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari, who commands Iraq's military, repeated his warning that his army may not be ready to defend the nation until 2020.

The general has said for months that it may be necessary for U.S. forces to remain in Iraq until his soldiers can take full control of security, but the timing of his statement this week was widely seen as a veiled plea for the American military to reconsider its departure.

A spokesman for the Iraqi government said Saturday that Iraqi security forces will be ready to defend the nation by the end of 2011. "Iraq does not need a constant American military presence or bases in Iraq," Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

Iraqi civilians also are coming under attack. A bomb attached to a car in the Amil area of Baghdad exploded Saturday morning, injuring the driver and three bystanders, officials said.

-- Associated Press