|
3 US soldiers killed in Iraq
02/10/2003 11:18 - (SA)
Baghdad - Three US troops were killed in a span of hours as the Americans pressed their drive to root out the Iraqi resistance to their nearly six-month-old occupation, taking the toll from attacks to 88 in five months.
One soldier was killed late on Wednesday in a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack in Samarra, 100km north of Baghdad, at the same time as another was struck down by small arms fire in the capital.
The pair of attacks came just four hours after a bomb claimed the life of a soldier in Tikrit, the hometown of ousted president Saddam Hussein.
"A 4th Infantry Division soldier died of wounds he received in an RPG attack on his convoy which was travelling by Samarra," a military official said.
The infantryman was evacuated from Samarra to a field hospital where he later died, the spokesperson added.
88th combat death
It was the 88th death of a soldier in combat here since US President George W Bush declared hostilities over on May 1.
As the convoy was being ambushed in Samarra, unknown assailants shot dead a US soldier and wounded another in the capital.
The two members of the 1st Armoured Division were shot with a small-calibre handgun at 21:00 (17:00 GMT) while on patrol in the posh Al Mansur suburb of Baghdad, the US military's Central Command said in a statement.
The fatal attacks commenced at 17:00 with a bomb blast that left one soldier dead and two wounded in Tikrit, 175km north of Baghdad.
Improvised explosive device
Major Josslyn Aberle, of the 4th Infantry Division, said the soldier was killed by an "improvised explosive device", which more and more is the weapon of choice for guerrillas in their war of attrition against the US-led coalition occupying Iraq.
"One soldier was killed and two wounded," Aberle said, adding that the injured were in serious condition. She said a third soldier suffered slight wounds and returned to duty.
It was the greatest number of US deaths in combat in a day since three soldiers were killed on September 20.
The attacks fell within the so-called Sunni Muslim triangle around Baghdad and north and west of the capital, which has proven to be the epicentre of resistance to the coalition.
The US military says the resistance draws upon veterans of Saddam's security services, religious fundamentalists and some foreign fighters. The coalition also suspects the involvement of gangsters bankrolled by agents from the ousted Baath party.
'Lacking leadership'
The army is hoping the capture of Saddam, still on the loose since Baghdad fell nearly six months ago, will bring an end to much of the unrest and has consistently labelled the fighting as localised and lacking in any national leadership.
But a crucial factor in the attacks is a burgeoning alienation among the country's Sunni Muslims, who fear the future under the leadership of Iraq's 15-million-strong Shiite majority.
Until US troops ousted Saddam in April, the oil rich country had been ruled by its Sunni population since modern-day Iraq was established more than 80 years ago.
The latest deaths also came despite apparent strides in rebuilding the war-battered nation. Young Iraqis returned on Wednesday to school for the first time since US forces toppled Saddam's authoritarian regime.
Likewise, Iraq's political process has moved forward, with Iraq's interim government receiving on Tuesday night a report from a special committee on the best method for writing a constitution.
And the post-Saddam Iraqi interim government was poised to present itself before the UN in New York on Thursday.
- AFP
|
News
