Recently we were regaled with the statement that "The coalition has broken the back of resistance". This was from the commanding General of the 4th I. D. Ray Odierno. (see news.com.au ) Since then we've had a morbidly distressing track record that continues today. One can only imagine what his troops and their families think of the General's grasp of the situation.
U.S. soldier dies after Iraq rocket attack
A U.S. soldier died Sunday morning in Iraq after being wounded when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle, a U.S. military source said.
The attack happened Saturday night in the central town of Beiji, just north of Tikrit.
The soldier, whose name has not been released, was assigned to the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division, the military source said.
The soldier was riding in Bradley fighting vehicle when a RPG slammed into it. Other soldiers in the patrol convoy returned fire against the attackers and captured six suspected insurgents, the military source said.
The critically wounded soldier was taken to the 28th Combat Support Hospital where he died hours later after surgery, the source said.
Beiji is in Iraq's so-called Sunni Triangle, the volatile region north and west of Baghdad, where many of the deaths have occurred.
Five U.S. soldiers and four Iraqi civilians were killed Saturday in three separate bomb attacks in the Sunni Triangle, U.S. military officials said.
In Khaldiyah on Saturday, a car bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded six others. Several Iraqi civilians also were wounded in the attack. Two of the wounded soldiers were taken to a combat support hospital and four were being treated at a local military base.
West of Fallujah on Saturday a roadside bomb exploded and killed two U.S. soldiers as their vehicle passed by. The soldiers were assigned to the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. Central Command said. No more details were immediately available.
In another Saturday attack, a bomb hidden along a road near a government building in the northern Iraqi city of Samarra exploded as a U.S. military convoy passed by. The blast killed at least four Iraqi civilians and seriously wounded another. Thirty-three civilians were treated for minor wounds at a local hospital. Three U.S. soldiers also were wounded, U.S. military sources said.
The bomb was probably detonated remotely and was hidden near a Toyota pickup truck parked near the building, the sources said.
Insurgents have been active all week in the Sunni Triangle -- where three attacks in a 24-hour period Wednesday and Thursday killed nine people, including two U.S. soldiers.
The latest death brings the total of U.S. soldiers killed in the war to 512.
cnn.com
JMO
lurqer |
