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Four U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq
Updated: 2005-08-10 19:28
Four U.S. soldiers were killed and six others wounded
when insurgents attacked their patrol in a northern Iraqi city, while a car bomb
targeting a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in Baghdad killed seven people, officials
said Wednesday, reported the Associated Press.
US troops load a bodybag into an army
ambulance following a suicide car bomb explosion, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005,
in Baghdad, Iraq.[AP] |
The 10 Task Force Liberty soldiers were on patrol when they came under attack
late Tuesday in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, a military statement said
Wednesday.
Insurgents fired on the convoy with rocket-propelled grenades, damaging two
Humvees and a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, said Beiji police Lt. Ali Abdul-Hameed.
Witnesses in the area said the Bradley fell into a canal and a U.S. helicopter
transported the casualties.
The car bomb in Baghdad exploded in the western neighborhood of Ghazaliyah,
said 1st Lt. Thair Mahmoud. Four civilians and three policemen were killed, he
said. Another seven people were injured. It was unclear whether any U.S. troops
were injured.
On Tuesday, a suicide car bomber struck a U.S. convoy waiting at an
intersection in Baghdad, killing seven people 锟斤拷 including one American soldier 锟斤拷
and wounding more than 90. More than a dozen others died in scattered attacks
across the capital.
The American convoy was stopped at a busy intersection when a driver
detonated a vehicle packed with explosives, the U.S. Army said. Six Iraqi
civilians also were killed; scores of Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers were wounded.
The United States hopes progress on the political front, including adoption
of a democratic constitution, will help deflate the Sunni Arab-led rebellion and
enable the Americans and their partners to begin withdrawing troops next year.
"It's important that they stay with their timetable" on the constitution,
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. "This will be a critical step
in persuading the majority of the Iraqis that the new Iraq is worth fighting
for, that they have a stake in it."
Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters that the constitution "could well turn out
to be one of the most powerful weapons to be deployed against the terrorists"
and the insurgents are "determined to stop the constitutional process through
terror and intimidation."
Late Tuesday, representatives of political factions met for a second round of
talks aimed at breaking the deadlock over the constitution, which the parliament
must approve by Aug. 15. Talks were postponed Monday by a severe sandstorm.
The constitution also needs approval from voters in an Oct. 15 referendum.
Passage would lead to elections in mid-December.
At the beginning of the meeting, presidential spokesman Kamran Qaradaghi told
reporters the latest talks would focus on federalism, distribution of wealth and
the elections law.
Kurds demand that Iraq be transformed into a federal state so they can
continue to run their autonomous mini-state in the north. Sunni Arabs oppose
federalism because they fear the Kurds want to secede and dismember Iraq.
Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani joined the talks Tuesday. Barzani, who had
been stranded in northern Iraq by the sandstorms, has vowed not to compromise on
federalism.
A prominent Sunni Arab on the constitutional committee, Saleh al-Mutlaq,
suggested that federalism be decided by the parliament to be elected in
December.
"We will not accept federalism in these circumstances," al-Mutlaq told The
Associated Press. He warned that if Kurdish demands are accepted, "they will
have grave consequences" for the future of Iraq. He did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, a group of women activists issued a statement Tuesday insisting
that the new constitution guarantee women's rights "as an essential part of
guaranteeing human rights of all members of Iraqi society" regardless of gender,
race, religion or sect.
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