Could it be that some lying in those massive Iraq graves were victims of Bush 1 war against Iraq that killed 200,000 Iraqi troops? More Bush deaths: Iraq fighting leaves 13 dead, including a U.S. Marine and an ABC cameraman
CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
Friday, March 26, 2004
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(03-26) 13:02 PST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --
U.S. troops and guerrillas armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades fought for hours in the alleyways of Fallujah on Friday. One Marine and at least five Iraqis died, including an ABC News cameraman.
Near Tikrit on Friday, four members of the U.S.-trained Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and three suspected rebels died during a raid by Iraqi security forces and U.S. soldiers, the U.S. military said. Twenty-one suspected guerrillas were captured in the raid north of Baghdad.
Footage from Associated Press Television News showed American troops in Fallujah carrying a comrade in a stretcher shortly after an explosion during combat. The U.S. military in Baghdad said one Marine died and several were wounded in the fighting in a city that has resisted American efforts to pacify it since the ouster of Saddam Hussein a year ago.
This week, U.S. Marines took over authority in Fallujah and surrounding areas from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. The city on the banks of the Euphrates River sits in the so-called Sunni Triangle, where support for Saddam was strong and rebel attacks on American forces are frequent.
Witnesses said heavy gunfire and explosions erupted when Marines moved into the center of the city. In recent months, American troops have rarely ventured into downtown Fallujah, one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq for the U.S. military.
An AP photographer saw two rebels in civilian clothes firing a mortar, and another preparing to fire a rocket-propelled grenade.
After the fighting, Marines patrolled on foot. The city was largely deserted with shops shuttered and residents staying indoors. U.S. troops blocked a city entrance.
In New York, ABC News President David Westin identified the slain cameraman as freelancer Burhan Mohammed Mazhour, who had been working for the network in Fallujah for two months.
"He died of gunshot wounds while covering a firefight in Fallujah," Westin said in a statement. "We are trying to confirm all the details surrounding his death and have asked the U.S. military for an investigation."
Iraqi doctors said Mazhour was shot in the head. It was unclear who killed him.
Diyaa al-Jumailee, a doctor at Fallujah hospital, said four other Iraqis were killed and six wounded. Witnesses said the dead included a shopowner, a customer and two bystanders.
Also Friday, Time magazine announced the shooting death of Omar Hashim Kamal, an Iraqi translator who worked in its Baghdad bureau. Kamal, who was shot Wednesday by unidentified assailants, died Friday of his wounds.
Earlier this month, an Iraqi freelance translator working for the Voice of America was shot to death along with his mother and young daughter. The killings appear to be part of a campaign by insurgents to target or intimidate Iraqis working with foreign companies and the U.S.-led coalition that is governing Iraq. |
