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2 us troops killed Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/6753819.htmhttp://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/6753819.htm
Posted on Fri, Sep. 12, 2003
2 U.S. Troops Killed, 7 Hurt in Iraq Raid
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and seven wounded early Friday in a shootout that broke out during a raid in Ramadi, the military reported.
The U.S. Army gave no other information on the incident, which took place during one of the bloodiest nights of fighting since the end of major conflict on May 1.
An unknown number of Iraqi police were killed or injured also early Friday near Fallujah, which is between Ramadi and Baghdad. The shooting in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, was believed to have involved American forces, Fallujah police and guards at the Jordanian Hospital at the scene of the firefight.
In the confusion after the shooting, 12 policemen were taken inside the nearby U.S. base. Whether they were killed or injured
Family members gathered at the base gate waiting for news. Five other policemen were taken to a hospital with injuries.
Arab satellite television broadcasters were reporting between 10 and 17 policemen killed.
There were other unconfirmed reports of violence in the region Friday after a message carrying the name of Saddam Hussein appeared on at least one building in Fallujah. The message praised the people of the city for their resistance to the American occupation and named it capital of al-Anbar province. The nearby city of Ramadi, west of Fallujah, is the capital of the Sunni dominated al-Anbar province.
Fallujah police were chasing a white BMW without license plates that they identified as one used by highway bandits on the road connecting Baghdad with the Jordanian border. The officers chasing the four men in the BMW were in pickup trucks.
U.S. Army troops manning a checkpoint on a road leading to the resort village of Saddamiyat al-Fallujah, formerly used by senior officials of the Saddam regime, opened fire on the BMW and the trucks when they did not stop.
Witnesses initially said 11 police officers and all four men in the car were killed in the hail of fire.
Thursday afternoon, attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at a U.S. military convoy about 18 miles west of Fallujah, touching off an intense firefight that left at least one American soldier wounded, the military said.
Tanks and other vehicles from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment came under attack, the military said.
Other "U.S. forces responding to the scene came under fire and returned fire at houses nearby," U.S. Army Capt. Jeff Fitzgibbons said.
There was no information regarding casualties among attackers. Two U.S. military trucks were also destroyed during the fighting along Highway 10, he said.
Associated Press Television News pictures showed a burning tank transport truck, a burning 5-ton truck and at least one burning Humvee.
Earlier Thursday, three U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were injured when guerillas fired rocket-propelled grenades and shot small arms at a military convoy in Mosul, northern Iraq, the military said.
In Baghdad, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a key member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council and a top Shiite Muslim cleric, told a news conference Friday that the car bombing that killed his brother and at least 85 other people in Najaf last month was a "terrorist operation" and would not be the last such attack.
Al-Hakim, who took over leadership of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq after his brother's assassination Aug. 29, said the attack was part of a "diabolical and cunning conspiracy" to target Iraqi infrastructure, assassinate other senior clerics and desecrate holy Muslim shrines.
At the news conference held at a Supreme Council building in central Baghdad, al-Hakim also issued a blunt warning to Arab satellite broadcasters like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya against "playing a role that tears the nation apart and supports terrorist groups."
Al-Hakim refused to give a direct answer when asked about disarming the Badr Brigade, which his slain brother founded during exile in Iraq as the armed wing of the Supreme Council. It was ordered disarmed and disbanded on American orders after the fall of the Saddam regime, but members have subsequently been patrolling the streets in the area of the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf since the bombing there two weeks ago.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said on Thursday that such militias are illegal.
Al-Hakim said the continued armed presence of the men was under discussion with American authorities.
"The Badr Brigade should have a very active role in achieving security, and we are discussing this issue with the coalition authorities. We do not want militia formations in Iraq, but under the current critical situation, urgent measures should be taken. But, we try to work in a way to avoid clashes with the coalition forces," he said.
"We do not foresee any benefit that could be gained from engaging in an armed conflict with the occupation forces. We believe in the necessity of adopting other means to achieve independence."
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