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45 U.S. Soldiers Injured In Iraq Blast, 3 Iraqis Killed
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U.S.
troops block a highway on the outskirts of Baghdad after a
roadside bomb attack
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MOSUL,
Iraq, December 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A car
bombing wounded Tuesday, December 9, dozens of U.S. soldiers near the
volatile northern capital of Mosul, two days after the top U.S.
commander in Iraq warned of upturn in resistance attacks.
Al-Jazeera
satellite channel reported that the number of the wounded U.S.
soldiers amounted to 45.
Separately,
three Iraqis were killed Tuesday in a blast outside a mosque in
Baghdad, according to Iraqi police.
However,
the U.S. military said that 31 soldiers were injured in the Mosul
attack.
"There
are 31 U.S. soldiers wounded," said U.S. Major Hugh Cate from a
unit of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, claiming that
none of the injuries were life threatening.
Asked
if it was carried out by a car bomber, the major said: "I'm going
to have to assume that it was as the individual was driving the car
and it detonated," adding that only one person was inside the car
used in the attack, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He
said that four soldiers with the worst injuries had been transferred
to the 21st combat support hospital in Mosul, 45 kilometers (nearly 30
miles) away.
"A
vehicle approached a compound of the 101st Division at 4:45 am (0145
GMT). It did not stop at the control point.
"It
was engaged by our security personnel. The vehicle stopped before it
got into the compound and it detonated," said Cate, spokesman for
the 101st in Mosul.
"The
majority of the injuries were caused by flying debris and glass."
Cate
would not say how many U.S. personnel were manning the compound at
Tall Afar or what their role was. Tall Afar is mainly populated by
Shiite Turkmen and had been a calm post.
Three
Iraqis Killed
Meanwhile,
three Iraqis were killed and two were wounded Tuesday when a
bomb exploded in the courtyard of a Sunni mosque after morning prayers
in the capital, police said.
"Unknown
men planted the bomb in the courtyard" of the Akhab al Moustafa
mosque in western Baghdad, a police officer said.
"It
blew up at 6:45 (0345 GMT) and three people were blown to bits and two
others were wounded," said the mosque's caretaker Abdul Aziz
Mohammad.
"It
caused panic among the faithful," he added. "The generator
caught fire."
Police
sub-lieutenant Zuheir Mohammad Hassan said he heard a loud explosion
which left a hole in the compound wall.
"When
we got there we saw the three dead and two wounded. The believers took
the wounded to al-Kadumiyeh hospital."
Four
U.S. Fatalities
The
attack on U.S. soldiers in Mosul came one day after four U.S. soldiers
were killed and four others wounded in three separate attacks across
the country.
Brigadier
General Mark Kimmitt, the occupation's deputy director of operations
in Iraq, told a press conference a U.S. soldier was killed in a
drive-by shooting in Mosul, adding that the dead soldier was involved
in an operation near a gas station when the attack occurred.
"There
was a drive-by shooting by four, we believe, Iraqis who shot and
killed him," he said.
Kimmitt
said the soldier died of gunshot wounds fired from the vehicle which
had halted some 40 metres (yards) away to carry out the attack.
In
northern Iraq, three U.S. soldiers were killed and one wounded in a
road accident north of Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said
Tuesday.
The
accident occurred during a combat patrol northeast of Ad Duluiyah,
said 4th Infantry Division spokesman Colonel Bill MacDonald.
"Two
Striker infantry carrier vehicles were traveling on a rural road when
embankment collapsed causing them to roll over into a canal," he
said.
Later
Monday, four American soldiers traveling in their Humvee vehicle were
wounded when a roadside bomb exploded at a traffic light in Mosul,
said Ahmad Talal Mohammed Shiit of the Iraqi police.
The
deaths brought to 196 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in resistance
attacks in Iraq since U.S. President George W. Bush declared major
hostilities over on May 1, according to an AFP toll compiled from
Pentagon reports.
Kimmitt
said Monday there had been an average of 22 attacks a day across Iraq
over the previous seven days, 19 of them against "coalition"
troops, but added: "We feel prepared for any upturn in attacks in
the days and weeks ahead."
The
bout of attacks came after the top occupation commander in Iraq,
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, issued a
grim warning Sunday, December 7, that the "insurgency"
could be expected to intensify in the days ahead.
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