GIs kill 8 after convoy bombed in Iraq (Agencies) Updated: 2005-01-10 08:42
U.S. troops opened fire near a checkpoint south of Baghdad after their convoy
was hit by a roadside bomb and a hospital official said Sunday at least eight
people were killed in the second American attack in two days to have deadly
results.
In other violence Sunday, a U.S. soldier assigned to Task Force Baghdad was
killed by a roadside bomb, while a Marine was killed in action in the volatile
Anbar province.
Seven Ukrainian soldiers and one from Kazakhstan also died in an apparently
accidental explosion at an ammunition dump south of Baghdad.
Bodies of victims wait to be taken away for
burial outside Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2005. At least
five Iraqis, including two policemen and three civilians, were killed the
previous night when U.S. troops opened fire after their convoy was struck
by a roadside bomb at a checkpoint south of Baghdad, police said.
[AP] | U.S. officials said they had no information about the checkpoint shooting,
which occurred overnight Saturday. Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan
Abdul-Rahman said a roadside bomb hit a U.S. convoy near a police checkpoint in
Yussifiyah, nine miles south of Baghdad, and troops opened fire, killing two
police officers and three civilians.
Dr. Anmar Abdul-Hadi of al-Yarmouk hospital said eight people died in the
attack and 12 were wounded.
American commanders recently announced a change in response to roadside
bombings. Rather than pushing on after the blast, they now stop and try to
engage the perpetrators, who may have detonated the explosives remotely.
Hours before the attack, the United States acknowledged dropping a 500-pound
bomb on the wrong house during a search for terror suspects outside the northern
city of Mosul. The military said in a statement that five people were killed.
The house's owner, Ali Yousef, said 14 people died when the bomb hit at about
2 a.m. Saturday in Aitha, a town 30 miles south of Mosul. An Associated Press
photographer at the scene said the dead included seven children and seven
adults. The discrepancy between the death counts could not be reconciled.
Such attacks are exactly what the United States does not want prior to
national elections scheduled for Jan. 30.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked on ABC's "This Week"
how he would define success in Iraq's election, and he acknowledged concern
about what will happen after the vote.
"Success is putting in place a government that is really elected and
represents all of the people of Iraq ... and creating an Iraqi security force
that is able to protect the country and protect the people of Iraq," he said.
A U.S. soldier assigned to the Task Force Baghdad was killed in a roadside
bomb explosion, the military said without specifying where the attack occurred.
A Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force also was killed in
action Sunday while conducting security and stability operations in the western
province of Anbar, which is home to the volatile city of Fallujah, according to
a military statement released Monday. More details were not provided and
identities were withheld pending notification of relatives.
At least 1,353 U.S. military members have died since the Iraq war began in
March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Unknown assailants on Sunday shot Samarra's deputy police chief, Col.
Mohammed Mudhafir, as he drove alone, Samarra police Maj. Raed Ahmed said.
Few details were known about the explosion that killed the Ukrainian and
Kazakh soldiers. The U.S. military said late Sunday that the soldiers were
cleaning up the ammunition dump.
Polish military spokesman Lt. Col. Artur Domanski said the explosion occurred
at about noon, about six miles south of Suwaira. Eleven soldiers were wounded —
seven Ukrainians and four Kazakhs, he said.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry said the soldiers were loading aviation bombs when
one of the devices exploded.
Ukraine serves in a Polish-led contingent in south-central Iraq and is the
fourth-largest contributor of troops to the war effort with 1,650 soldiers.
Kazakhstan has sent a 27-strong contingent of military engineers and is the only
Central Asian nation to contribute troops.
Nine Ukrainian soldiers have died in Iraq, including three in combat, and
more than 20 have been wounded.
Elsewhere Sunday, Iraq's most influential Sunni group said it will abandon
its call for a boycott of the elections if the United States gives a timetable
for withdrawing multinational forces.
The Association of Muslim Scholars relayed its request to a senior U.S.
embassy official at a meeting Saturday, a group spokesman said on condition of
anonymity.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan on Saturday confirmed the meeting, which
he described as an "exchange of views."
The first democratic vote in Iraq since the country was formed in 1932 is
certain to see the Sunnis lose their dominance to the Shiites, who comprise 60
percent of Iraq's 26 million people. Sunni leaders have urged a postponement of
the vote, largely because areas of Iraq where they dominate are too restive for
preparations to begin.
In what appeared to be another effort to persuade Sunni Muslims to
participate in the vote, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi met Saturday with
116 tribal leaders, clerics and political personalities from the restive
provinces of Anbar, Salahuddine and Nineva, his office said Sunday.
The guests expressed support for "the democratic process in Iraq and
cooperation with the government to stand against violence and terrorism," the
office said.
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