- BAGHDAD (AFP) - Seven US
soldiers were killed in Iraq over the weekend as insurgents demonstrated
they can still bleed US troops with their favoured technique, the roadside
bomb.
-
- After a lull in US military deaths, the guerrilla groups
have shown in the last week they can still effectively kill US troops with
bombs despite improved American technology for combatting the improvised
explosive devices (IED).
-
- Iraqi civilians, meanwhile, continued to be struck down
in the war between US forces and an insurgency grouping foreign fighters,
Islamists and Saddam Hussein loyalists.
-
- Five civilians were killed near the flashpoint town of
Baquba 60 kilometres (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad when mortar or rocket
fire struck their village located near a US military base.
-
- It was not clear who was responsible.
-
- Also on Saturday, three Iraqis were wounded when an
errant
mortar bomb hit an apartment complex next to Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison,
which houses many of the people detained by US forces trying to unravel
the clandestine world of rebels and foreign fighters.
-
- In a worrying development for the Americans, the seven
deaths over the weekend proved once more the insurgents' ability to adapt
to US tactics despite the military's conviction it had cut off much of
their leadership and access to weaponry.
-
- Three US troops from the 1st Armored Division were killed
when a bomb exploded Saturday night as they patrolled southeast Baghdad
and a fourth who was wounded died at a combat hospital Sunday, the Pentagon
said.
-
- Early Sunday morning, west of Baghdad, a newly arrived
soldier from the US National Guard died when his convoy hit a separate
bomb.
-
- The soldier, who was set to work with the 1st Infantry
Division (1ID), died from his wounds while being taken to hospital.
-
- Another two soldiers from the 1ID died in a bomb blast
Saturday morning in the northern city of Tikrit, the hometown of
Saddam.
-
- Two soldiers were killed in bomb attacks near Baquba
last week as the rebels appeared to be testing the new troops replacing
the battle-hardened 4th Infantry Division going home after a year on the
ground.
-
- Added to an official Pentagon tally, the latest deaths
raised to 275 the number of US soldiers killed in action since US President
George W. Bush declared major hostilities over on May 1.
-
- The rise in deaths comes despite the introduction of
new anti-mining equipment in the field, including South African-made
armoured
tractors.
-
- The army has been stepping up its patrols and demining
operations with these machines which, boasting hi-tech infra-red radar
and electronics, are valued at millions of dollars.
-
- The bombs are hidden in coke cans, empty army food bags,
purses and animal carcasses among other disguises. They are responsible
more than any other weapon for the deaths or wounding of US
soldiers.
-
- Sixteen US troops, including 12 marines, were injured
during a raid on Saturday, when five home made bombs were found and seven
insurgents captured, the US Army said.
-
- An army spokeswoman declined to give details on how four
Task Force All American soldiers and 12 marines were hurt during the
operation
on Saturday in Ramadi 100 kilometres (65 miles) west of Baghdad.
-
- In other violence, a US soldier was critical but stable
after being stabbed several times by an unknown attacker in the US-led
coalition's headquarters in Baghdad early Sunday, a US military official
said.
-
- And the body of a policeman from Fallujah, west of
Baghdad,
who disappeared two days ago, was discovered riddled with bullet holes,
a police officer said.
-
- Away from the violence, US overseer in Iraq Paul Bremer
and a White House expert on political process, Robert Blackwill, held
meetings
with members of Iraq's interim Governing Council on how to move forward
after the signing of a temporary constitution last Monday.
-
- Council members say their immediate priorities are to
fix the caretaker government and devise a system for direct elections,
before overcoming a series of problems that have been raised with the
content
of the interim constitution.
-
- However, there is reported discontent on the Governing
Council about the US wish to bring United Nations envoy Lakhar Brahimi
back to Iraq to help devise the plan after his February visit resulted
in a delay of national elections, going against the wishes of Iraq's Shiite
majority.
-
- Copyright © 2004 Agence France Presse. All rights
reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be
published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority
of Agence France Presse.
-
- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=
- 1504&e=18&u=/afp/20040315/ts_afp/iraq_us_040315085628
|
