NEWS:Bush:"bring'em on"-Another U.S. Soldier Killed by Guerrillas West of Baghdad
[ed:BUSH LIED & AMERICANS DIED...and dying still. Impeach that lying criminal SOB POS NOW!!]
Mon September 29, 2003 09:04 AM ET
asia.reuters.com
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier was killed and another was wounded on Monday when guerrillas attacked a military convoy in a restive area west of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Lieutenant Colonel George Krivo told reporters in Baghdad the morning attack took place in the town of Habbaniya, about 45 miles from Baghdad -- an area where U.S. forces come under almost daily attack from guerrillas opposed to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.
Eighty-one U.S. soldiers have been killed in attacks since President Bush declared major combat in Iraq over on May 1 following the war that ousted Saddam Hussein, according to official U.S. figures.
"There was an engagement this morning. It was an IED (improvised explosive device) attack on a convoy," Krivo told a news briefing. "There was a coalition soldier injured and one coalition soldier killed in action."
After the explosives attack, soldiers exchanged fire with guerrillas at the scene for several hours, Krivo said.
Details of the incident appeared to match reports from residents in the area, who said the soldiers had called in helicopters which also opened fire.
The residents said the fighting broke out after a U.S. vehicle ran over a bomb. Assailants emerged later, firing rocket-propelled grenades at the soldiers who returned fire.
One man said at least three Iraqis had been wounded.
The area west of Baghdad is a bastion of support for Saddam.
In Baghdad, attackers opened fire on the car of a member of a committee examining how Iraq should draw up a new constitution, killing one of his bodyguards, officials in the U.S.-led administration said on Monday.
A spokesman for the Iraqi Governing Council said Jalaladin al-Sagher, a Shi'ite cleric, was unhurt in the attack on Sunday.
The incident came less than a week after a member of the Governing Council died from wounds sustained in a gun attack.
Charles Heatly, a spokesman for the U.S.-led administration, told reporters that an investigation was underway to determine if the attack had been an assassination attempt or whether Sagher had been caught in crossfire between criminals.
Guerrillas opposed to the occupation have repeatedly targeted Iraqis cooperating with the U.S.-led authorities.
Akila al-Hashemi, one of three women on the 25-member Governing Council, was wounded in a gun attack on her car on September 20. She died five days later. |
