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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (201541)	9/12/2004 4:05:35 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1574059

Violence sweeps Baghdad Sun 12 September, 2004 17:41 By Ibon Villelabeitia BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. helicopter gunship has fired at Iraqis milling around a burning U.S. vehicle in a Baghdad street during fierce battles in which witnesses and officials say 13 people were killed and 61 wounded. Elsewhere in the city on Sunday, at least seven car bombs and various outbreaks of violence killed nine Iraqis, and insurgents fired over a dozen mortar bombs or rockets around the U.S.-occupied Green Zone compound. It was one of the heaviest barrages in the capital in months. "We've seen a tremendous increase in the number of attacks," Brigadier General Erv Lessel, a U.S. military spokesman, told Reuters. South of Baghdad, three Polish soldiers were killed and three wounded when they were attacked near Hilla. In rebel-occupied Ramadi, west of Baghdad, U.S. tanks and helicopters fired on a residential district, killing 10 Iraqis, including women and children, a doctor said. The U.S. military had no immediate comment. The surge in violence coincided with new American offensives to retake insurgent-held areas before elections due in January. HELICOPTER GUNSHIP Heavy fighting erupted in Haifa Street, a thoroughfare in central Baghdad notorious as a rebel stronghold. The crackle of gunfire echoed for several hours as U.S. tanks and tank-like Bradley fighting vehicles moved into the area. Witnesses said a U.S. helicopter fired at a group of Iraqis crowded round a burning Bradley. Reuters Television images showed Iraqis running for cover shortly before a blast felled Al Arabiya producer Mazen Tomeizi. The Palestinian, who was working for the Dubai-based TV channel, died soon afterwards. Reuters cameraman Seif Fouad, who had been recording the scene, was also injured in the explosion. "Mazen's blood was on my camera and face," Fouad said from his hospital bed. He said his friend screamed at him for help: "Seif, Seif! I'm going to die. I'm going to die." The U.S. military said two of its helicopters opened fire after coming under attack from the crowd. Reuters television footage showed no evidence of shooting from the ground. "As the helicopters flew over the burning Bradley they received small-arms fire from the insurgents in vicinity of the vehicle," a military statement said. "Clearly within the rules of engagement, the helicopters returned fire destroying some anti-Iraqi forces in the vicinity of the Bradley." Earlier, the U.S. military had said a helicopter destroyed the vehicle "to prevent looting and harm to the Iraqi people" after four U.S. soldiers were lightly wounded in the attack on the Bradley. DAWN ROCKETS Sunday's violence began at dawn when insurgents fired at the heavily fortified Green Zone. Some rounds landed inside the compound, which also houses Iraq's interim government but there were no reports of casualties. In other incidents, a car bomb killed a senior police officer, another policeman and a 12-year-old boy on a highway west of Baghdad. A suspected suicide bomber tried to drive through the gates of Abu Ghraib prison but U.S. troops shot and killed him, the military said. Three people were wounded. In western Baghdad, gunmen killed a policeman. CONTINUED........... reuters.co.uk