Violence in Iraq Spreads to North

A sharp rise in attacks on U.S. forces around this normally tranquil city is part of a concerted effort to expand violent resistance deep into northern Iraq, U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials say. A handful of guerrillas and financiers arrived in this ethnically mixed oil center and activated a local opposition that had lain dormant for months, according to the commanders, officials and residents. The newcomers mounted nightly hit-and-run operations culminating in three blasts — a mortar attack on a U.S. base, a grenade explosion at city hall and a booby trap explosion beside a Humvee outside town — in the space of just two hours Tuesday night. The following night two Iraqi policemen were killed when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded at a checkpoint that U.S. soldiers had left shortly before. Full Story