Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Three more US soldiers killed in Iraq

Reuters, posted by The Crimson Repat | 26.07.2003 17:33 | No War F15 | Social Struggles | World

Three US soldiers killed by grenade attack in Iraq outside children's hospital on Saturday July 26. There appears to be no let-up in guerrilla attacks on American soldiers since the death of Saddam's sons.

Three U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq
By Miral Fahmy


BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - A grenade attack has killed three U.S. soldiers guarding a children's hospital north of Baghdad, the latest ambush in a guerrilla war that the killing of Saddam Hussein's sons has failed to check.
A military spokesman said four soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were wounded in Saturday's attack in Baquba, 30 miles north of Baghdad, in the "Sunni triangle" where American troops have come under frequent attack.
The fatalities brought to 47 the number of U.S. soldiers killed at enemy hands since Washington declared an end to major combat in Iraq on May 1. Eight have died since U.S. forces killed Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay on Tuesday.
U.S. officers have warned of a risk of revenge attacks after the deaths of the brothers, though it is not clear whether vengeance is the motive for the assaults of the last few days.
U.S. commanders hope the fate of Uday, 39, and his 37-year-old brother Qusay will in time demoralise guerrillas, whatever the short-term response.
In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, U.S. troops braced for more bloodshed as Iraqis fighters amplified their campaign.
Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit said they were now facing attacks during the day as well as at night, and that guerrillas were increasingly bold and confident.
"Things are worse now," said Staff Sergeant Kenneth Maxwell, from Hartford, Connecticut, admitting to nerves as he held the trigger of his machinegun atop an armoured vehicle.
"They used to just attack us, mostly at night. But now they are attacking us during the day with AK-47s and RPGs (rocket- propelled grenades), at any American soldiers they can find," Maxwell said, eyes alert under the baking sun.

ATTACK IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

The attack on soldiers in Baquba illustrated the danger. Residents said an attacker had thrown a grenade from the roof of the hospital in broad daylight on Saturday morning.
U.S. troops sealed off the building after the attack and barred people from leaving. Everybody inside was being photographed as part of the investigation into the assault.
Dozens of worried Iraqis with relatives in the hospital gathered outside the hospital gates.
"My wife and my baby boy are inside. I have a one-year-old daughter at home who needs her mother. We want the Americans to let them out," said one man, Mohammed Abdul Sattar.
Ali Abbas, whose sister is a nurse in the hospital, said he hated the Americans but did not support this attack. "We all agree that we need to fight the Americans," he said. "But did they really have to hit them in a children's hospital?"
U.S. officials blame Saddam loyalists for the attacks on American troops, mainly in Baghdad and the Sunni heartland to the north and west. Arab television networks have broadcast pictures of masked men with grenades and assault rifles vowing to strike back for the deaths of Uday and Qusay.
But many Iraqis resent the U.S. occupation and link the violence to anger over the way U.S. troops behave. Between 6,000 and 7,800 Iraqi civilians are believed to have been killed since the war began on March 20, though no precise toll is available. U.S. troops with bulldozers began demolishing the villa in the northern city of Mosul where the brothers were killed, after scouring it for clues on the whereabouts of their father.
The villa was wrecked when U.S. troops attacked it with machineguns, grenades and anti-tank missiles in a fierce battle that killed the pair and two others, believed to be a bodyguard and Qusay's teenage son.
The house belonged to a businessman with links to Saddam's family. U.S. officials have declined comment on speculation that it was he who betrayed Uday and Qusay in return for $30 million (18 million pounds) in reward money. Washington says it will pay, no doubt to encourage others to claim the $25 million on offer for Saddam.
After the deaths of his sons, the net might be closing, U.S. commanders say. Acting on a tip-off, they rounded up 13 men near Tikrit on Thursday night. Some were suspected of being bodyguards of Saddam, though officers said it was not certain.
"We continue to tighten the noose," 4th Infantry Division commander Major General Ray Odierno said.
Iraq's biggest selling newspaper, Azzaman, splashed colour photographs of Uday and Qusay's corpses on its front page on Saturday, under a headline proclaiming the brothers were dead.
U.S. officials hope the pictures and television images of the bodies will convince sceptical Iraqis that Uday and Qusay are dead and staunch the wave of guerrilla attacks.
One issue is what will happen to the bodies. Muslim tradition demands they be buried quickly, but few in Iraq will want to see their graves become a shrine. They could be discreetly handed to clan elders in Tikrit.

Reuters, posted by The Crimson Repat

Comments

Display the following 4 comments

  1. Please stop lying — hindrance to vilolence must prevail
  2. dear previous poster — ram
  3. For what it's worth... — The Crimson Repat
  4. To the please stop lying user — Chris Daniels
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech