- SAMARRA, Iraq (AP) -- The
U.S. military said Monday that 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city
of Samarra as U.S. forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out
of simultaneous ambushes while delivering new Iraqi currency to banks.
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- Residents, however, said Monday that the casualty figure
was much lower and that the dead were mostly civilians.
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- By the U.S. account, Sunday's fighting was the bloodiest
combat reported since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in a U.S.-led
invasion.
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- West of Baghdad, assailants ambushed a U.S. military
convoy on Monday, killing one soldier, the U.S. military said. The attack
with small arms fire occurred near Habbaniyah, 80 kilometres west of the
Iraqi capital, the military said.
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- The U.S. military said attackers in Samarra, many wearing
uniforms of Mr. Hussein's Fedayeen paramilitary force, struck at two U.S.
convoys at opposite sides of Samarra, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad.
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- Captain Andy Deponai, whose company took part in the
fighting, said the guerrillas had deployed about 30-40 men at each ambush
site.
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- The scars of the battle were evident Monday. About a
dozen cars lay destroyed in the streets, many apparently crushed by tanks,
and bullet holes pocked many buildings. A rowdy crowd gathered at one spot,
chanting pro-Hussein slogans. One man fired warning shots in the air when
journalists arrived at the scene.
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- There was no U.S. military presence in the city centre
on Monday. Shops opened, and residents moved around town.
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- At a news conference at a U.S. military base in Samarra,
Colonel Frederick Rudesheim said the convoys were on a mission to deliver
currency to banks when the co-ordinated ambushes took place.
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- "That was a given location that they knew we would
go to," Col. Rudesheim said. "This was done in a concerted fashion."
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- At the U.S. base, half a dozen suspects were seen with
bags over their heads and their hands bound by plastic cuffs.
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- Many residents said Hussein loyalists attacked the Americans,
but that when U.S. forces began firing at random, many civilians got their
guns and joined the fight. Many said residents were bitter about recent
U.S. raids in the night.
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- "Why do they arrest people when they're in their
homes?" asked Athir Abdul Salam, a 19-year-old student. "They
come at night to arrest people. So what do they expect those people to
do?"
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- "Civilians shot back at the Americans," said
30-year-old Ali Hassan, who was wounded by shrapnel in the battle. "They
claim we are terrorists. So, okay, we are terrorists. What do they expect
when they drive among us?"
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- Many residents said the Americans opened fire at random
when they came under attack, and targeted civilian installations. Six destroyed
vehicles sat in front of the hospital, where witnesses said U.S. tanks
shelled people dropping off the injured. A kindergarten was damaged, apparently
by tank shells. No children were hurt.
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- "Luckily, we evacuated the children five minutes
before we came under attack," said Ibrahim Jassim, a 40-year-old guard
at the kindergarten. "Why did they attack randomly? Why did they shoot
a kindergarten with tank shells?"
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- Military officials in Baghdad said they have not reported
a deadlier attack since May 1, when U.S. President George W. Bush declared
major combat over. U.S. officials have only sporadically released figures
on Iraqi casualties, and would not say whether there has been a deadlier
unreported firefight.
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- The U.S. military initially said 46 Iraqi fighters died
and five American soldiers were injured. But Monday's statement raised
the toll among Iraqis to 54.
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- Residents of Samarra disputed those figures, saying at
most eight or nine people died. Three bodies lay in the hospital morgue.
There was no way to reconcile the accounts.
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- The scale of the attack and the apparent co-ordination
of the two operations showed that guerrilla units retain the ability to
conduct synchronized operations despite a massive U.S. offensive this month
aimed at crushing the resistance.
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- At least 104 coalition troops have died in Iraq in November,
including 79 Americans. In terms of coalition losses, it has been the bloodiest
month of the war that began March 20.
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- Also Sunday, two South Korean contractors were killed
near Samarra in an ambush in what U.S. officials called a new campaign
aimed at undermining international support for the U.S.-led occupation
of Iraq. Attacks on Saturday killed seven Spaniards, two Japanese diplomats
and a Colombian oil worker.
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- The bodies of the two Japanese diplomats were flown to
Kuwait and arrangements are being made for transporting them home, a Japanese
diplomat said Monday.
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- In Seoul, the South Korean government vowed Monday to
stick by plans to send up to 3,000 troops to Iraq despite the killing of
two South Korean engineers.
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- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated
Monday his vow that the attack on the Japanese diplomats would not alter
Tokyo's commitments to send non-combat troops, provide humanitarian aid
and participate in the reconstruction of Iraq.
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