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To: Rick Faurot who wrote (30886)	10/31/2003 10:27:17 PM
From: Rick Faurot	Respond to of 89467

Fourteen die in Baghdad clashes U.S. warns 'day of resistance' planned Friday, October 31, 2003 Posted: 7:31 PM EST (0031 GMT) BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Clashes between unruly Iraqi mobs and coalition forces using tanks and air support left 14 Iraqis dead and five wounded, a U.S. source said early Friday evening. The fatal fights, which lasted 7 1/2 hours on the western outskirts of Baghdad Friday, came as the U.S. Consulate in Baghdad warned Americans to take precautions, citing rumors of a "day of resistance" planned for this weekend. A number of days has been mentioned for possible attacks, but the common one is Saturday. Coalition forces suffered no casualties during the day's battles, said the source from the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division. It is not clear how the fighting started, but the source said a crowd of 500 to 1,000 Iraqis started throwing rocks at a coalition patrol from the 2-70 Armored Regiment, and began burning tires and "being disruptive." Some in the crowd carried pictures of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the source said, while others carried religious banners including one reading: "Ramadan makes you closer to God." A resident of the area told CNN the people were protesting the coalition's imprisonment of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison. The coalition source said the battle centered on the Abu Ghraib market and police station. The conflict escalated after people in the crowd fired mortars at the police station. "The decision was made then to turn them (the crowd) back," the coalition officer said. Armored tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assets, MPs and Iraqi police joined in the battle, the coalition source said. An Iraqi police lieutenant said one of his colleagues was killed, but CNN could not confirm that, and the source said the coalition's report did not mention any Iraqi police deaths. The source said coalition troops entered two mosques near the battle scene and found a small quantity of weapons in each. Earlier Friday, a U.S. soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division was killed and four others wounded when a homemade bomb exploded near Khaldiya, a town west of Baghdad, a spokesman with the U.S.-led coalition said. Elsewhere, a bomb exploded outside the mayor's office in Fallujah, west of Baghdad. No word of casualties in the explosion was available, but several police, one attacker and some nearby civilians were wounded in the firefight that followed, an eyewitness said. Attacks against U.S. forces and Iraqi police have escalated recently, with the most dramatic and bloodiest day coming Monday. More than 30 people were killed then in four suicide bombings in Baghdad, including an assault on the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters. Friday's death raises the U.S. combat death toll to 118 since President Bush declared an end to major hostilities May 1. cnn.com