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3 U.S. Soldiers Killed, 4 Wounded In Attacks - Witnesses
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The body of a killed U.S. soldier on the road near Abu Gharib prison
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Additional
reporting by Mohammad Sadiq Amin, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD,
July 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At least three U.S.
soldiers were killed and four others injured in separate resistance
attacks in different parts of Iraq Wednesday, July 16, while a fourth
soldier died in a non-combatant incident, witnesses and officials
confirmed.
U.S.
troops came under fierce mortar attack at dawn in the northern Iraqi
city of Mosul, witnesses told IslamOnline.net correspondent.
The
attacked American infantry unit was stationed inside a training center
for the deposed Baath party of ousted president Saddam Hussein.
Eyewitnesses
told IOL that at least ten U.S. soldiers were present when the attack
took place, adding that at least two soldiers were killed.
An
American medical evacuation helicopter flew off to airlift the
wounded.
Well-kept
sources in Mosul told IOL that American forces had received threats of
imminent attacks over the past days.
The
Americans took the threats seriously and set up checkpoints everywhere
and starting combing the city in search of weapons and resistance
fighters, an unprecedented measure in the relatively calm city, they
asserted.
In
another related development, one U.S. solder was killed in an attack
on an American military convoy on the road near Abu Gharib prison,
west of the capital Baghdad, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
burnt-out U.S. military vehicle is believed to have been booby-trapped
and detonated when the convoy of about 30 truck drove by, Lieutenant
Colonel Kenneth Gantt from the 3rd Infantry Division told AFP.
"One
of the guys who got out of the third vehicle (in the second line) was
run over by the truck behind," Gantt said.
Two
other soldiers suffered moderate wounds, but it was not clear if they
were injured in the collision or as a result of the explosion.
"They
have advanced in their sophistication and deception, which we already
knew they were good at," Gantt said of the Iraqi fighters who
carried out the resistance attack.
Specialist
Roberto Alvares told AFP that "a seven-ton truck exploded and we
saw smoke."
The
body of the dead soldier lay about 30-40 feet (10 meters) from the
truck, which had its front hood blown away by the force of the blast.
"We
need to get out of here. We're just walking ducks, sitting in trucks.
We can't defend ourselves," lamented Specialist David McCall.
In
a third separate attack, two U.S. soldiers and five Iraqis were
wounded when attackers threw a grenade at an American armored vehicle
guarding a bank in Baghdad, witnesses and an AFP photographer
confirmed.
The
attack occurred in the Mansur district of central Baghdad at around
1:00 pm (0900 GMT), they said, as a U.S. Army spokesman said he was
unaware of the incident.
Fallujah
Again
On
the highway to the flashpoint town of Fallujha, unknown Iraqis fired a
rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at U.S. troops Wednesday along a
highway west of Baghdad, residents told AFP, as hundreds of U.S.
troops blocked off long sections of road to conduct searches.
"Unknown
gunmen launched an RPG at a Humvee on the highway to Fallujah, at (the
small town of) Khandari (about 10:20 am (0620 GMT)," one resident
said.
"U.S
soldiers then blocked the highway and they deployed."
There
was no immediate word of casualties.
U.S.
soldiers withdrew
Friday, July 11, from Fallujah after incessant resistance attacks and
after Iraqi officers complained that the American presence put them at
risk.
The
highway exit ramp to Fallujah, a town 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of
the capital, was quickly cut off by about 40 armored personnel
carriers and other U.S. vehicles as soldiers conducted broad searches
of the area with helicopter gunships circling overhead, an AFP
correspondent witnessed.
The
attack came as a spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq said
Wednesday that U.S. troops in Iraq have killed a number of
"attackers" involved in an RPG ambush west of Baghdad.
"Soldiers
from the Third Infantry Division defeated a substantial RPG ambush at
approximately 1:30 am in Fallujah" on Tuesday (2130 GMT Monday),
the military said in a statement, reporting no U.S. casualties.
There
were "a number of attackers," it said, adding "all
attackers were killed."
Military
spokeswoman Specialist Nikki Trent said she was unable to provide even
an approximate number of fatalities.
However,
residents in the town of Habbaniya between Fallujah and Ramadi said
five Iraqis were killed by U.S. troops in what seemed to be the same
incident.
They
added that said a U.S. armored vehicle was destroyed by three RPGs.
In
a non-combat incident, a U.S. Marine died late Tuesday, July 15, in
Iraq after falling from a building in the town of Hilla south of
Baghdad, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
"A
Marine from the First Expeditionary Force died late last night after
falling off the rooftop where he was on guard," Specialist Nikki
Trent told AFP.
The
new toll takes to 35 the number U.S. soldiers who have now been killed
in operations since May 1, U.S. President George W. Bush declared an
end to major combat operations in Iraq.
At
least 50 more have died in accidents or other non-combat-related
incidents in the same period.
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