In the Never-Never Land of the AP, There Are No "Terrorists"

The Associated Press has gone to ridiculous lengths in the following story to avoid use of the word "terrorist". In these excerpts, I've highlghted the places where the word "insurgents" is used improperly, i.e., when terrorist attacks against civilians have occurred. From the Associated Press via Yahoo!News [emphasis added]:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Stepped-up attacks by insurgents over the last two days have killed at least 44 Iraqis, including 12 laborers, five of them brothers, who were gunned down by insurgents at a construction site outside the city of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

Monday's worst attack occurred in southwestern Baghdad when suspected insurgents opened fire at two civilian cars, killing three of the municipal workers they were carrying and a passer-by, said police Capt. Talib Thamir.

A suicide car bomber killed two Iraqis and wounded five in an attack on a police patrol in the northeastern neighborhood of Shaab, where insurgents had kidnapped and murdered a defense lawyer in Saddam Hussein's trial last week, said police Lt. Malik Sultan.

Some of these uses of "insurgents" seem gratuitous and repetitive. Is it possible that AP writer Thomas Wagner was trying to make a point with his bosses?