A rchive Date
[ 30-10-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/09/11/238648-ap.html
Multinational forces attacked in Iraq
By ROBERT REID
Wed, October 29, 2003
BAGHDAD (AP) - Two more American soldiers have been killed in hostile action in Iraq, taking the U.S. postwar combat death toll to above the number killed during the invasion, the military said Wednesday.
The deaths brought to 117 the number of American soldiers killed by hostile fire since May 1, when President George W. Bush declared an end to active combat. A total of 114 U.S. soldiers were killed between the start of the war March 20 and the end of April.
In the latest attack, insurgents destroyed an American tank north of Baghdad late Tuesday, killing the two soldiers, and wounded seven Ukrainians in the first ambush against the multinational force patrolling central Iraq, officials said.
The U.S. victims were from the 4th Infantry Division. Their Abrams battle tank apparently hit a landmine near Balad, 70 kilometres north of Baghdad, division spokeswoman Maj. Jossyln Aberle said.
It was the first M1 Abrams battle tank destroyed since May 1, military officials said. Several of the vehicles - the mainstay of the army's armoured forces - were disabled in combat before May 1.
The ambush of the Ukrainians occurred when two armoured personnel carriers rolled over landmines near Suwayrah, 65 kilometres southeast of Baghdad.
After the vehicles were disabled, gunmen opened fire on the disembarked soldiers, a spokesman for the multinational division at Camp Babylon said on condition of anonymity.
The spokesman said it was the first ambush against the Polish-led force that since September has been patrolling a belt of central Iraq south of the capital. About 1,650 Ukrainians are serving in the Polish-led force of some 9,500 peacekeepers.
American soldiers carried out pre-dawn raids Thursday in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and detained more than a dozen suspects, some believed to be involved in setting up a new terrorist cell, the military said.
Under the cover of darkness, 4th Infantry Division troops fanned out across downtown Tikrit, 190 kilometres north of Baghdad, raiding six houses.
U.S. forces had "reliable intelligence" that the suspects were involved in establishing a "new terrorist network in Tikrit and planning terrorist attacks against coalition forces," Lt.-Col. Steve Russell told The Associated Press after the operation.
The area around Tikrit has been the scene of increased attacks on U.S. troops that coalition forces blame on Saddam supporters and members of his Fedayeen militia.
This region in northern Iraq is part of the Sunni Triangle, an area to the north and west of Baghdad that is considered a hotbed of anti-American sentiment.
U.S. troops detained 14 suspects, including four identified as "targeted individuals," said Russell, the commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division.
Meanwhile, U.S. policy in Iraq suffered a setback when the international Red Cross announced it was reducing its international staff in the country, two days after a deadly suicide car bombing at its Baghdad headquarters. The humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, also announced it had pulled out workers.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had urged the Red Cross and other non-government organizations to stay in Iraq because "if they are driven out, then the terrorists win."
In Geneva, the ICRC said it would remain in Iraq, but would reduce the number of international staff - now about 30 - and increase security for those who stay. The agency has 600 Iraqi employees.
"The ICRC remains committed to helping the people of Iraq," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the agency's director of operations.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, which operates clinics and helps at a hospital in Baghdad, said some of its international staff had left Baghdad for Jordan.
Officials of the group said medical personnel had been scheduled to leave Baghdad in the near future, but their departure was hastened by the Red Cross attack.
"The reduction was foreseen," spokeswoman Linda Van Weyenberg said. "It was sped up because of events. It's a balance between the security of the staff and the needs of the population." She did not say how many staffers left. The group previously said it had seven international staffers in Baghdad.
Baghdad police commander, Maj.-Gen. Hassan al-Obeid, on Wednesday announced measures to bolster security in the capital, including additional 24-hour checkpoints and special patrols around sensitive locations, according to coalition-run Iraqi television.
Elsewhere, three soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were slightly wounded Wednesday when up to seven roadside bombs exploded near their convoy in the northern city of Mosul, the military said.
And in Ramadi, 100 kilometres west of Baghdad, witnesses said an explosive device intended for U.S. troops detonated Wednesday as a civilian car was passing by, seriously injuring the driver.
Col. William Darley, a U.S. military spokesman, said American forces are now suffering an average of 33 attacks a day. That marked a dramatic escalation over the average of 12 daily attacks reported in mid-July.
By late September, occupation authorities reported the average ranged from "the low teens to the mid-20s" over the previous two months. On Oct. 23, the U.S. military said attacks averaged 26 daily between Oct. 8 and Oct. 22.
These include including mortars, small arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs.
The violence escalated this week starting with the rocket attack Sunday against the Al-Rasheed Hotel, which killed an American officer and wounded 18 other people.
On Monday, car bombers devastated the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations, killing about three dozen people and wounding more than 200 - the bloodiest day in Baghdad since the start of the U.S. occupation.
The attacks, which coincided with the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, cast doubt on assertions by the Bush administration that conditions in Iraq are steadily improving.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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