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3 Civilians, 2 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq
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More
than 200 U.S. soldiers were killed in resistance attacks since May
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BAGHDAD,
December 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Two U.S. soldiers
and an Iraqi interpreter were killed Monday, December 22, as two
Iraqis were slain and more than 80 others detained by the American
occupation forces in the occupied country.
Two
soldiers from the 1st Armored Division and their Iraqi interpreter
were killed Monday when their convoy struck a roadside bomb in
Baghdad, a military spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
attack at 11:45 am (0845 GMT) marked the first troop deaths since a
U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded in an ambush in the
capital last Wednesday.
It
raised to more than 200 the number of soldiers killed in action since
U.S. President George W. Bush called the offensive over at the
beginning of May.
In
the meantime, Iraq's oil industry was jolted by another fire on a fuel
pipeline, this time on an artery linking the northern oil-rich city of
Kirkuk and the country's largest refinery in Beiji.
Nearly
90 acts of sabotage have exacerbated massive gas and electricity
shortages in Iraq since the U.S. occupation forces rolled into Baghdad
in April.
Attacks
against occupation forces continue unabated even after the capture of
former president Saddam Hussein, the main to blame for earlier
resistance operations, as ordinary Iraqis seethe with anger over
continued occupation – Washington had justified for capturing Saddam
and finding alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Massive
Detentions
In
another related development, an Iraqi man was killed and another
wounded Monday when a convoy of U.S. soldiers opened fire on their
vehicle just south of Tikrit, the survivor of the shooting told AFP.
An
Iraqi woman was killed when U.S. soldiers blew down a door during a
raid in Rawa, according to the U.S. military.
The
death of the woman came as the U.S. Third Armored Cavalry Regiment
(3rd ACR) kicked off "Operations Rifles Fury" in Rawa, a
mission aimed "to kill or capture" resistance fighters, on
Sunday.
The
U.S. occupation troops carried out a total of 17 raids and detained 81
individuals, of whom 11 were considered "high value targets"
that the 3rd ACR was actively seeking.
General
Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday
December 21, that several hundred people had been detained in Iraq in
a sweep using intelligence gained in the wake of Saddam's capture.
Observers
said that the raids further infuriate the Iraqis, as many innocent
civilians are being unjustifiably detained, killed or injured while
occupation forces break the houses of the Arab Islamic country.
In
Fallujah, residents reported door-to-door searches and the detention
of a former colonel.
Ethnic
tensions were also on the rise, as thousands of Iraqi Kurds
demonstrated in Kirkuk to demand the northern oil centre be included
in a future autonomous Kurdish region.
It
was the biggest demonstration the city has seen since Baghdad fell at
the hands of U.S.-British forces on April 9.
Kurds
used to be in a majority in Kirkuk, which is also populated with Arabs
and Turkmen. Saddam targeted the oil-rich city in a campaign to
Arabise large areas of northern Iraq.
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