NEWS: Armed resistance rising in Iraq; 4 U.S. soldiers killed in 2 days amid report of new assaults
[ed: With those 4, more Americans have now been killed after Bush declared the end of war than before.]
msnbc.com
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 27 — U.S. soldiers in Iraq fell victim to more deliberate attacks on Friday, as armed resistance to American and British military occupation appeared to be rising. In one incident, a U.S. soldier reportedly was shot in the head while buying digital video discs at a shop in Baghdad. Separately, another soldier was killed in an ambush in southern Iraq, the fourth U.S. military personnel killed since Thursday, although not all in combat-related incidents. Meantime, the hunt continued for two soldiers who went missing north of Baghdad.
THE U.S. MILITARY had no immediate comment on the report that a soldier was shot in the head in a Baghdad market, an incident recounted by the shop owner. It was not clear from witness accounts whether his wound was fatal.
The shop owner, who refused to give his name, said the soldier had come into the DVD shop in the Kazimiyah neighborhood in the northwest of the city at around 11 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) and picked up two discs.
“He took out dollars from his pocket and as I looked at the money I heard a bang. He froze and then fell backwards,” the owner told Reuters Television. “Two other soldiers came in, picked him up and took him away.”
Other witnesses corroborated the owner’s version. One said he saw a young man shooting the soldier at close quarters in the lower head.
AMBUSHES INCREASE
Meantime, further attacks killed a U.S. soldier in southern Iraq and U.S. troops arrested three Iraqis Friday in connection with the disappearance of two U.S. servicemen north of Baghdad.
Four U.S. military personnel have been killed in Iraq since Thursday, at least two of them in ambushes against U.S.-led occupation forces.
A U.S. Navy sailor died in a non-combat incident Thursday and an Army Military Police officer was killed Friday in circumstances that officials are not divulging, said Army Sgt. Amy Abbott, a military spokeswoman.
On Thursday, a U.S. Army soldier was killed while investigating a car theft in Najaf, 100 miles southwest of Baghdad, said a statement from U.S. Central Command.
The soldier, who was attached to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, died before medics arrived on the scene, Centcom said. The sailor who died was also attached to the 1st MEF, Abbot said.
The names of the dead service members were withheld pending notification of relatives.
Also Friday, three suspects detained in connection with the disappearance of two American soldiers were being interrogated, said Sgt. Patrick Compton, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad.
U.S. forces kept up ground and aerial searches that have so far failed to find the soldiers or their Humvee, Compton said.
The pair were guarding the perimeter of a rocket demolition site near the town of Balad, 25 miles north of Baghdad, when they failed to answer a radio call and were reported missing Wednesday night, Compton said. Compton said he was unsure whether the soldiers are still alive. “We don’t know if they were abducted or they were just killed,” he said.
EXPLOSIVES TARGET U.S.
Just northwest of Baghdad Friday morning, a U.S. Army truck struck an explosive device on a dirt road. A U.S. soldier and an eyewitness said wounded Americans were evacuated by helicopter.
The U.S. soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Americans were driving to Baghdad to make telephone calls to their families when the explosion occurred.
Between Wednesday and Thursday, assailants blew up a U.S. military vehicle with a roadside bomb, dropped grenades from an overpass, destroyed a civilian SUV traveling with U.S. troops, demolished an oil pipeline and fired an rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. Army truck, wounding two soldiers.
Hostile fire also killed one U.S. special operations soldier and wounded eight others on Thursday, the military said, without providing details.
Until recently, most violence against U.S.-led occupying forces in Iraq occurred in the Sunni Muslim-dominated belt north and west of Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein enjoyed a degree of support. In the past few days, attacks have spread to the Shiite majority south.
BRITISH SEEK ANSWERS
Late Thursday, a British plane dropped leaflets on the southern town of Majar al-Kabir, where six British soldiers and at least five Iraqi civilians were killed in violent clashes on Tuesday.
The leaflets stated that the U.S.-led coalition forces regret the loss of life among Iraqi civilians, and added that coalition forces were not behind the incident.
“We will not return to punish anyone since these are the methods of Saddam’s regime. We will return to set up good relations with you because of our concern about a secure Iraq,” the three-paragraph statement read. “Don’t let rumors ruin our good relations.”
The leaflets added that British forces — who have not been seen in the volatile town since Tuesday’s melee — would return to Majar al-Kabir, 290 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Baghdad, to repair the damage done during Saddam’s rule. It didn’t specify when the British plan to return.
Officials played down the violence, but the surge in attacks is causing concern that the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq could be turning into a guerrilla war.
A military spokesman, Maj. William Thurmond, said the spate of ambushes could be a response to recent U.S. raids on Baath Party strongholds.
“There have been more attacks recently, but it’s probably premature to say this is part of a pattern,” Thurmond said. “We’ve kicked open the nests of some of these bad guys.”
RESISTANCE URGED
The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera, however, aired statements Thursday from two previously unknown groups urging assaults on U.S.-led forces in Iraq.
One, by a group calling itself the Mujahedeen of the Victorious Sect, claimed responsibility for recent attacks and promised more. The other, by the Popular Resistance for the Liberation of Iraq, called for “revenge” against America.
Al-Jazeera said it could not verify the statements.
WP: Experts question U.S. victory
Two U.S. officials familiar with intelligence information said they had not previously heard of the groups issuing the statements and had no way to know whether they were credible.
Tensions in the Iraqi capital have been exacerbated by electricity outages that have worsened over the past week. Some areas of Baghdad have gone without power for three or more days at a time.
U.S. officials acknowledge that Baghdad’s electricity supply is decreasing — after improving for a time after the war. They blame incessant blackouts on sabotage at power stations.
The lack of electricity — which also prevents drinking water from being pumped — has fueled frustrations and anti-U.S. sentiment. Residents in Baghdad and across Iraq still suffer from a withering crime wave, with carjackings, muggings and shootings common. |
