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Iraqis, 3 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Separate Attacks
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Suzanne Azat, one of several Iraqi women wounded in an attack on a minibus (AFP)
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FALLUJAH,
January 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Two Iraqi
policemen and a civilian were killed Thursday, January 22, in an
ambush north of Fallujah, capping a bloody 24 hours that saw the
killing of seven Iraqis and three U.S. soldiers in separate attacks.
"Unknown
attackers in a car fired at a police patrol vehicle, killing
Lieutenant Hakam Hilmi instantly and 2nd Lieutenant Ibrahim
Khaled," police Captain Walid Ismail told Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
Three
other policemen traveling in the convoy were wounded in a blaze of
gunfire, he added.
"A
civilian whose identity is not yet known was also killed when gunfire
hit his car as it came down the road at the time of the attack,"
Ismail said, adding that the attackers escaped.
Policeman
Maher Mohamed had told Reuters: "We were standing at our
checkpoint and saw some cars come by. From one of them, a grenade was
thrown and Kalashnikovs were fired at us."
He
added that the attackers wore checkered headdresses around their
faces.
A
pool of blood lay on the side of the highway, along with a police
vehicle pockmarked by bullets.
The
incident happened about 30 kilometers north of Fallujah – where
anti-occupation attacks and sentiments are on the upswing.
Resistance
fighters have often targeted Iraqi police and others cooperating with
the U.S.-led occupation.
More
Deaths
Separately,
police and hospital officials in Falluja said a bus carrying women
home from work was attacked at a U.S. base near Habbaniya Wednesday.
Police
said the Iraqi women are taken every day by minibus to the base west
of the capital, where they work as cleaners and cooks, adding the
buses had been shot at before.
Also
In Fallujah, a U.S. military patrol opened a fatal fire on two guards
in a car showroom in the city.
The
Americans shot the guards unprovoked, leaving cars exhibited inside
with damages, reported Al-Jazeera television.
The
shooting is expected to further fan anti-American sentiments among
local inhabitants, more than eight of them were killed by U.S. fire
while protesting against the occupation in April.
Iraqis
have also been enraged by the heavy presence of foreign forces,
occupying rooftops and patrolling the streets, and their military
provocations including house-to-house searches and massive detentions.
Occupation
Fatalities
The
U.S. occupation army confirmed Thursday the killing of three U.S.
soldiers in northeastern Baghdad a day earlier.
"Three
U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday and one wounded near Baquba in a
mortar or rocket attack," Lieutenant Colonel Dan Williams told
AFP.
Major
Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division, said
rockets were used in the attack on the division and several other
soldiers received minor injuries.
The
new fatalities up to at least 505 the number of U.S. soldiers have
been killed in Iraq since Washington launched its invasion in March,
including 349 in action, according to a Reuters count.
A
massive truck bomb blew
up on January 18, at the main gate to the U.S.-led occupation
headquarters in Baghdad, killing 23 people, including at least two
American soldiers, and wounding 99 others.
On
January 17, three
U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi troopers were killed when a roadside
bomb blew apart their armored vehicle.
South
of the capital near Diwaniya, a Spanish Civil Guard police commander
was shot in the head and seriously wounded during a joint raid of a
house with Iraqi police, the Spanish Defence Ministry said.
Spain's
Defense Ministry said the wounded commander, Gonzalo Perez Garcia, was
head of security for a Spanish military brigade in Iraq.
The
attack is a further setback for the Spanish government, already facing
public protest over committing troops to occupied Iraq.
Seven
Spanish intelligence officers were
killed on November 29, in a spiral of attacks across the
chaos-mired country.
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