Two Americans killed in boat blast, among scores killed in new bloodshed in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Two American servicemen were killed as a vessel they intercepted blew up in a daring attempted attack on an Iraqi oil terminal, in a day of bloodshed that also claimed the lives of six US soldiers and 39 Iraqis.
The incident was one of three in which suicide bombers sought to destroy vital oil facilities near the southern Iraqi port of Basra.
The US Navy said a crew had had set out to board the traditional Arab boat as it approached the Khor Al-Amaya Oil Terminal.
"As the eight-member boarding team approached the dhow in a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB), the dhow exploded, flipping the RHIB and throwing the crew into the water, killing two and wounding four," a statement said.
Separately, a US navy spokeswoman said the dead were US nationals, but she did not immediately give their branch of military service.
Another two waterbone attacks, against the Al Basra Oil Terminal, were foiled about 20 minutes after the first attempt.
"ABOT security forces immediately took action to intercept. Prior to reaching the terminal, the boats exploded," the statement said.
"Initial reports indicate no damage to either terminal," the statement added, though port authorities said loading was interrupted.
The unprecedented attempted attacks capped a day of widespread violence, both in the Sunni Muslim north of Iraq (news - web sites) and in Shiite-dominated areas, including the volatile Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City.
Earlier in the day, police in Basra said they seized a truckload of explosives and arrested three Iraqis suspected in a series of suicide attacks that had killed 74 people in British-occupied southern Iraq Wednesday.
In Taji, just north of Baghdad, four US soldiers were killed and seven wounded, three of them critically, when a rocket was fired at their base at dawn, according to a military statement.
Another two US soldiers were killed and one wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy near the southern city of Kut, police said.
In the northern city of Tikrit, four Iraqi policemen were killed when a booby-trapped car exploded near a US military base.
In another incident, 14 Iraqis were killed and 11 wounded when their bus was hit by a roadside bomb near Iskandariyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Baghdad, hospital officials said.
And in Sadr City, where militant Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr draws much of his support, four separate attacks killed at least 14 people and wounded 36, according to hospital staff.
"There was a mortar attack that would appear to have been aimed at the old cigarette factory where coalition forces are occupied," said US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt. "It did not hit the coalition but it did hit some citizens in Sadr City," said Kimmitt, deputy operations director for the US-led coalition.
Sadr, who is holed up in the southern city of Najaf and is wanted in connection with the murder of a rival cleric last year, warned Friday that his supporters would carry out suicide attacks if US troops entered Shiite holy cities.
In Najaf, one of the holy cities, an Iraqi civilian was burnt alive in his vehicle after it came under fire near a coalition base, according to hospital sources.
A coalition spokesman said the base, manned by Spanish soldiers, was attacked by eight mortar bombs overnight, and that troops returned fire.
Near Karbala, another holy city, five insurgents who were preparing an ambush were killed by a Polish patrol, a coalition spokesman said.
And in Fallujah, a Sunni stronghold under a three-week-old siege by US marines, a two-year-old boy was killed when shells and bullets hit his family's house, according to a relative and a nurse.
Both sides have accused each other of breaching the ceasefire, and Kimmitt warned that US marines were ready to go back on the offensive if the terms of the truce are not respected.
He said up to 2,000 insurgents, including foreign fighters and loyalists of ousted and detained Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), were holed up in the city.
US overseer Paul Bremer visited the city Saturday to seek a peaceful end to the confrontation, according to the coalition, but few further details were given. |
