BAGHDAD — More than 25 people were killed Monday and dozens wounded in attacks northeast of Baghdad as the insurgency continued to roil Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq.
Insurgents struck hardest in the city of Baqubah and neighboring areas, storming police stations, taking over the streets and engaging in fierce gun battles with U.S. troops.
American forces called in warplanes and dropped two 500-pound bombs in Baqubah.
The city was the second to erupt after U.S. troops launched attacks on Fallouja, a rebel stronghold. Last week, the northern city of Mosul suffered widespread violence as insurgents took over police stations, attacked the governor and closed down bridges over the Tigris River.
The attacks were similar in Baqubah, where masked gunmen seized police stations and public squares. The insurgents also took over the neighboring town of Buhriz.
They used missiles and rocket-propelled grenades to attack a U.S. military base at the Baqubah airport. An American convoy passing through the west of the city was attacked, and a vehicle was destroyed.
U.S. commanders believe that a number of insurgents escaped Fallouja and have relocated throughout central Iraq. Others have apparently escaped to Ramadi and Baqubah.
"It was critical to take out Fallouja because it was a sanctuary," said Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "This was the location where the insurgents could refit, rearm and launch their attacks from. That's now been denied to them. So in effect what we've done is placed them on the run."
Militants now seem to be emerging in force in Baqubah, in Nineveh and Babil provinces and in other areas that ring Fallouja, officials said.
"They're coming to north Babil. We know that some have gone north," said Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who ended a two-day visit to Iraq on Monday.
Myers expressed confidence that the guerrillas' recent movement would make them easier to track.
"They've had to relocate," he said. "They're moving and they'll make mistakes, and we're prepared to take advantage of that."
The cities under attack are in turmoil. Five policemen were killed in the Baqubah area Monday; one officer, in Buhriz, was the deputy chief of police and was gunned down in his home.
Even before nightfall, Baqubah's streets were empty and shops were closed. U.S. forces withdrew to their bases. Iraqi police and national guardsmen stayed close to their stations rather than patrol or set up checkpoints.
