- MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) --
An Iraqi translator for the U.S. military was shot dead and two of her
relatives were wounded in the northern city of Mosul Tuesday, in the latest
attack on locals working for the occupying forces.
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- Police said she had been on her way to work at the city's
main U.S. military base when her car was fired upon.
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- "These deliberate attacks show a total disregard
for innocent human life," Brigadier General Carter Ham, the commander
of U.S. forces in Mosul, said in a statement.
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- "Killing and injuring innocent Iraqi citizens shows
the murderous and cynical intent of terrorists to undermine freedom and
progress in Iraq."
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- Iraqis working as translators and cleaners for the occupiers
have been repeatedly targeted by guerrillas in Iraq, but no death toll
is available. Foreign civilians in Iraq have also been hit.
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- Monday, gunmen attacked U.S. civilians driving through
the city, killing three immediately. A fourth died in hospital Tuesday
morning, the U.S. military said. The Southern Baptist International Mission
Board, based in Virginia, said on its Web site the victims were missionaries.
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- Witnesses said they had been driving through Mosul, 390
km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, in a civilian vehicle without military
escort when attackers raked their car with gunfire.
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- The last week has seen a surge in deadly attacks on foreign
civilians in Iraq.
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- Last Tuesday, two U.S. civilians seconded from the defense
department and their Iraqi translator were shot dead in a road ambush south
of Baghdad.
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- They were the first American employees of the U.S.-led
civilian administration to be killed.
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- A team from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
is looking into the killings of those Americans, lawyer Fern Holland, 33,
and Robert Zangas, a press officer aged 44.
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- The U.S. military said six people had been detained over
the incident and four were believed to be Iraqi police.
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- Roadside bomb attacks in and near Baghdad have also killed
nine U.S. soldiers since Wednesday.
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- Since the start of the war to oust Saddam almost a year
ago, 389 U.S. troops have been killed in action in Iraq -- 274 of them
since Washington declared major combat over on May 1.
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- Most of the recent deaths have been caused by low-tech
roadside bombs often made from artillery shells crudely wired to a detonator.
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