The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) said one of its militants blew himself up at one entrance to the Rusafa military command headquarters on Sunday while four other jihadists, wearing explosive belts, fought security forces.

Accounts varied between witnesses and US and Iraqi security forces about what actually happened that day, but Baghdad's security command said five suicide bombers had approached the compound in a minibus.

One was fired on as he got out of the vehicle and his suicide vest detonated, Baghdad operations command said in a statement.

Two others fled to a nearby building, while the remaining two drove the vehicle towards soldiers, setting off their payload before they could be stopped.

Al-Qaeda's front group had a different story to tell.

"The operation was launched when the first martyr blew up his vehicle at the back entrance of the centre, after driving past control points," the ISI statement said.

"After that explosion, which took the apostates by surprise, four martyrs wearing explosive vests and armed with machine-guns and grenades stormed the centre and, according to plan, seized control of two buildings," it added.

The jihadists claimed that the clashes lasted more than an hour and that they had killed "dozens of security forces members" and only activated their explosive vests when they ran out of ammunition, according to the statement.

The US military has said that American troops deployed inside the Rusafa headquarters supported Iraqi forces in dealing with the attack -- the first such engagement since August 31 when US combat operations in Iraq ended and a new mission to advise and assist Iraqi forces began.

Lieutenant Colonel Eric Bloom said a team of US military advisers provided "suppressive fire" against a building where the two insurgents were hiding.

The deputy commander of the new US mission, Lieutenant General Michael Barbero, said on Monday that Sunday's attack on Rusafa bore the hallmark of Al-Qaeda.

A booby-trapped vehicle and "suicide vests. That's their normal tactics and techniques," he told AFP.

earlier related report
Iraq unable to meet current power demand until 2013: US
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 7, 2010 - Iraq will need at least another three years before it is able to satisfy current electricity demand, the US general charged with the military's reconstruction efforts in the Middle East said on Tuesday.

But Brigadier General Kendall Cox acknowledged that his projection was based on present levels of demand, which continue to rise as Iraqis purchase more consumer goods for their homes such as refrigerators and air conditioners.

His comments come about two months after a series of violent protests kicked off in several cities over a massive shortfall in mains-supplied electricity, seven years after the US-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

"Probably 2013, 2014 would be the earliest that I think they would be able to have a shot at generating enough power, with the requisite distribution and transmission capability, to have some sort of sustained, close to, 24 hours (per day) of power," Cox told reporters at a briefing in Baghdad.

"That's... based on current demands," he said, adding that "even as they continue to increase the megawatts that they bring online, simultaneously they are increasing their demand."

Cox is commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Transatlantic Division, which handles USACE projects in the Central Command area, stretching from Egypt to central Asia.

He estimated that current demand for electricity in Iraq was between 12,000 and 14,000 megawatts, with supply at just over 6,000 megawatts.

On August 21, dozens of Iraqis violently protested in the southern city of Nasiriyah to demand better power supplies, wounding 16 people including 10 policemen.

The protest was reminiscent of demonstrations in June in several other cities over power rationing amid summer heat when temperatures hit 54 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit).

Only those with access to their own generators and fuel have been able to refrigerate foodstuffs or air-condition their homes around the clock, while others have been rendered helpless in the oppressive summer heat, triggering the protests.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose electricity minister resigned in the wake of the protests, warned in June that two more years of shortages lay ahead as there was no quick fix to the problem.

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