Iraqi bomb kills 2 US troops
01/11/2003 18:12  - (SA)  

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Mosul, Iraq - Two US soldiers were killed and two others wounded in a roadside bomb attack on Saturday in Mosul, Iraq's northern capital, the US military said.

Two more attacks against US troops also occurred in Mosul, 370km north of Baghdad, inflicting casualties, according to witnesses. US forces in Mosul could not confirm the two incidents.

"Two 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) soldiers were killed and two were wounded in an improvised explosive device attack," the division said, in a statement which put the time of the blast at about 07:30 (04:30 GMT).

Before the two deaths were announced, the Pentagon put the US combat toll at 120 since Washington declared major hostilities ended exactly six months ago. During the main six-week war up to May 1, 114 US soldiers were killed by hostile fire.

A traffic policeman and another witness said the Americans were travelling in civilian clothes in two unmarked vehicles, which were both damaged by two simultaneous blasts at a main square in the city centre.

Iraqi police sealed off the area following the explosions, said Assad Mohammed Hussein, 55.

Attack on hotel

Later on Saturday, unknown gunmen fired two rocket-propelled-grenades on a US convoy near the central Mosul Hotel, headquarters of the US forces in the city, according to neighbour Muhannad Khalil, 37.

Another witness, Bassel al-Hayyani, said that a helicopter landed near the area to evacuate casualties.

An explosion in the central Ras al-Jaddeh neighborhood in Mosul also targeted a US military convoy, according to local journalist Nizar al-Malki, who said six soldiers were wounded in the blast.

In other developments in the Mosul area, four Iraqi police officers were wounded in two attacks against patrols since Friday night, police said.

"A pickup transporting a police patrol came under automatic rifle fire around in the Al-Mujmwa area, north of Mosul," according to a policemen who asked not to be named.

"Three policemen were wounded and the attackers fled," he said.

A second attack occurred at 06:30 (03:30 GMT) on Saturday in the Beni Yunes area," the officer said, adding that one policeman was seriously wounded.

Witnesses at the scene gave police information on the attackers and the type of cars they used, he said.

- AFP

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