Fallujah (Iraq): Insurgents attacked a police station and a Government building, sparking a gunbattle in the streets of a city West of Baghdad today (Feb 14, 2004), killing 20 people and wounding 30 others, police and hospital officials said.

The gunmen, riding in vehicles, opened fire on the buildings with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, said police officer Essam Yaseen. The wounded included five policemen and three civilians, he said. The two buildings are about a kilometer apart.

In the gunbattle that ensued, Iraqi security forces took cover under a hail of gunfire, hiding in doorways and around corners. A petrol bomb burned in the street and a RPG could be heard whizzing by.

Abdul Hamid al-Janabi, a security official at Fallujah hospital, said at least 20 people were killed. Of the 30 wounded, 19 were policemen, along with two women and a child.

"Ambulances are still bringing more people,'' he said.

The attack came two days after insurgents carried out a bold attack against an Iraqi security forces base in Fallujah just as the top US commander in the Middle East, Gen John Abizaid, was visiting. Abizaid was unharmed.