Insurgents launched a brief assault west of Baghdad on Thursday, firing mortar rounds and rockets at a US base and local government buildings, the day after Washington unveiled its new strategy for victory in Iraq.
Residents said heavily armed men wearing masks attacked a US garrison in the centre of Ramadi, a rebellious city 110 km (65 miles) west of Baghdad, and fired on nearby council offices before seizing several streets.
Leaflets were distributed saying that al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was taking control and promising that "Iraq will be a graveyard for the Americans and their allies." But after a couple of hours most of the militants dispersed and the city returned to relative calm.
The US military, which together with Iraqi forces launched a new operation in the area round Ramadi on Wednesday, played down the assault. In Baghdad, gunmen wounded an adviser to Iraq's interior minister and killed one of his bodyguards on Thursday in an attack on his convoy, police said.