Terrorists murdered several policemen in Baghdad yesterday but had no such luck in Mosul:

Iraqi Security Forces decisively defeated three separate attacks by anti-Iraqi insurgents as they attempted to seize two police stations while Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 18 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during other operations on Dec. 28 in northern Iraq.

Two Iraqi Police stations came under attack by rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire during a coordinated effort by insurgent fighters to overrun the stations in western and southeastern Mosul. The Iraqi Police successfully repelled the first two attacks on the stations denying insurgents access. After regrouping, insurgents attempted to overrun the southeastern station once again but police decisively defeated their attempts.

Since Nov. 10, there have been nine attempts where insurgents have tried but failed to overrun police stations. No police stations have fallen into the hands of insurgent fighters since Nov. 10.

The majority of Iraqis cut down by the Baghdad explosion were, predictably, civilians. Meanwhile, a repopulating Fallujah's most pressing difficulties lie in the civil-municipal realm. Since their shared metric for profit is that of disruption, one can begin to see reflections of the now-toothless Taliban's first signs of meaninglessness in anti-Iraqi terrorists.