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Us troops face fresh attacks Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?0sl=-13http://msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?0sl=-13
U.S. troops face fresh attacks in Iraq
3 GIs killed in ‘Sunni triangle,’ an area loyal
to Saddam
NBC NEWS AND NEWS SERVICES
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 13 — Iraqi insurgents have mounted fresh attacks on U.S. troops occupying the country, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding five more in assaults around Iraq’s deadly “Sunni triangle” in 24 hours, the military said Wednesday. In separate incidents, two Iraqis were killed overnight when U.S. forces returned fire at attackers, officials said.
ONE OF THE soldiers was killed and another was wounded Wednesday when their armored personnel carrier drove over an improvised mine, the third deadly bomb attack on U.S. forces in Iraq in 24 hours.
The soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were traveling in a convoy southeast of former President Saddam Hussein’s hometown, Tikrit, when the mine was detonated, a U.S. spokesman said.
Tuesday, U.S. convoys were attacked by improvised explosives in Ramadi, a restive Sunni Muslim town west of Baghdad, and near the town of Taji, just north of the capital.
The Ramadi attack, which involved three synchronized bombs, killed a soldier of the 3rd Armored Division and wounded two others. The blast near Taji killed a soldier of the 4th Infantry Division and wounded two others, U.S. military statements said.
Sixty U.S. soldiers have been killed in hostile incidents since President Bush declared major combat operations over on May 1.
Most of the attacks have been concentrated in a region north of Baghdad dominated by Sunni Muslims that has become known as the “Sunni Triangle.”
The military, meanwhile, reported killing three Iraqis in separate incidents Wednesday.
In one incident in the Baqouba region, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, a man was shot dead after he fired on U.S. troops from a pickup van in the town of Rashidiya.
Farther north near Balad, attackers fired on a U.S. reconnaissance team. The Army said that one of the assailants was killed and that the rest escaped.
U.S. soldiers later shot into a crowd in a Baghdad slum, killing one civilian and wounding four, after being fired on with a rocket-propelled grenade, the military said.
The exchange broke out after about 3,000 demonstrators gathered near a telecommunications tower in Sadr City, where they said U.S. forces in a helicopter tried to tear down an Islamic banner. A U.S. military spokesman said it appeared that rotor wash from a helicopter blew down the banner.
RAID CONCLUDES
The new cycle of attacks on Americans began early Tuesday shortly after U.S. forces ended a raid focused on remote villages 80 miles north of Baghdad, where intelligence reports suggested that Saddam loyalists might have fled there to escape repeated raids around Tikrit.
On the outskirts of Tikrit, U.S. soldiers captured 14 men Tuesday in a three-hour operation, including a Republican Guard officer and one of the deposed dictator’s bodyguards. All were members of the same family, which was a key supporter of Saddam’s regime, said Lt. Col. Steve Russell.
“They were trying to support the remnants of the former regime by organizing attacks, through funding and by trying to hide former regime members,” he said.
Russell said the Republican Guard officer was a divisional chief of staff.
Operation Ivy Lightning, launched Monday, was the latest effort by the 4th Infantry Division to hunt down pro-Saddam guerrillas blamed for a wave of attacks since Bush declared major combat over.
SEEKING ‘FOOT SOLDIERS’
Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, urged Iraqis and the world Tuesday to look beyond the daily shootouts and power cuts to newly found freedoms in Iraq.
“I don’t accept the definition of a country in chaos. Most of this country is at peace,” Bremer told reporters.
“We have a problem with attacks against coalition forces in a small area of the country by a small group of bitter-end people who are resisting the new Iraq. We will deal with them and we will dominate them. They will either be killed or they will be captured.”
Bremer said that while Iraqis complained of unsafe streets and shortages of power, they must also realize that Saddam’s fall had improved their lives.
“I think it’s important to ... look beyond the shootouts and blackouts and remind ourselves of a range of rights that Iraqis enjoy today because of the coalition’s military victory,” he said.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
To relieve the stress on U.S. troops in Iraq, a U.S. commander said he was trying to get approval for a two-week break for his soldiers. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, head of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, told The Associated Press that the troops had been told that their tours would be of one year long, but he is hoping they can take the break halfway through.
A top Bush administration official said U.S. troops would not leave Iraq before weapons of mass destruction were found. After security talks with Australia’s prime minister, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he had “absolute confidence” that such weapons would be found.
NBC News’ Robert Windrem, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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