Fatal blast rocks US base
2004-01-08 07:13
Baghdad - A mortar attack on a US logistics base late on Wednesday wounded 35 US soldiers as one of the biggest movements of US forces since World War II gathered steam.
About six mortars struck Logistical Base Seitz west of Baghdad in the attack, the military said in a statement.
"Thirty five soldiers assigned to the 3rd Corps Support Command were wounded by a mortar attack at approximately 6:45 pm," the statement said.
"I'm told some were lightly wounded and released, and others were more seriously wounded and admitted to hospital," said Lieutenant Colonel James Cassella, speaking for the Pentagon.
The military said they were given first aid and then evacuated from the base for further medical treatment.
Elsewhere, fighting also raged on, with five Iraqis killed over the past 24 hours. Assailants raked a checkpoint with bullets on Wednesday, killing a police officer and a civilian near the northern city of Kirkuk.
A firefight between US forces and guerrillas in the restive town of Fallujah left an Iraqi couple dead, Iraqi police and witnesses said, although the US military was unable to confirm the accounts.
Meanwhile, one of the biggest movements of US forces since World War II gathered steam on Wednesday with the departure to Iraq of infantry troops from the 82nd Airborne Division, as returning soldiers were welcomed home with open arms at an army base in Kentucky.
The soldiers were part of a rotation of US forces that will move some 250 000 troops into and out of Iraq and Afghanistan by May, a massive logistical undertaking that some have likened to a two-way invasion of Normandy.
The estimated 700 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who arrived at Fort Campbell, Kentucky Wednesday were the first of some 19 000 from the division who will be returning from Iraq by the end of March, an army spokeswoman said.