Roadside bomb kills 10 US troops in Iraq
Foreign Desk Report
WASHINGTON—Ten Marines were killed and 11 wounded by a roadside bomb
near Fallujah, Iraq, in one of the deadliest attack on American troops
in recent months, the Marine Corps announced on Friday. A brief
statement said the Marines were from Regimental Combat Team 8, of the
2nd Marine Division.
They were hit Thursday by a roadside bomb, which the military calls an
improvised explosive device, made from several large artillery shells,
the Marines said. The Marines were on a foot patrol outside of Fallujah,
about 30 miles west of Baghdad. Of the 11 who were wounded, seven have
returned to duty, the Marine Corps statement said. It added that Marines
from the same unit continue to conduct counterinsurgency operations
throughout Fallujah and surrounding areas.
The names of those killed were withheld pending notification of their
relatives, in line with usual military practice. Pentagon officials said
they did not immediately have any information beyond was what contained
in the Marine Corps statement. Fallujah had been a stronghold of the
insurgents until U.S. forces, led by Marines, assaulted the city in
November 2004. Since then the U.S. military and the Iraqi government
have been working to rebuild the city and limit the return of
insurgents.
U.S. and Iraqi troops launched an operation designed to disrupt
guerrilla activity in Ramadi on Friday ahead of Iraq’s December 15
elections, one day after insurgents staged a show of force in the
western city. Some 300 American Marines and 200 Iraqi army soldiers
began Operation Shank, the latest in a series of operations aimed at
disrupting guerrilla networks in Anbar province, the heartland of the
Sunni Arab-led insurgency. “The purpose of the operation is to disrupt a
terrorist group that utilizes an area of Ramadi as its base for attacks
on local Ramadi citizens, Iraqi and U.S. military,” said a U.S. military
statement. Insurgents launched a brief assault in Ramadi on Thursday
firing mortar rounds and rockets at a U.S. base and local government
buildings. Leaflets were distributed saying that al Qaeda in Iraq, the
group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was taking control
of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar. But after a couple of hours, most of
the militants dispersed and the city appeared to return to relative
calm. The U.S. military said reports of insurgents taking control of the
town were “completely unsubstantiated.” American military officials
describe Zarqawi as a master of propaganda who exaggerates gains as part
of his bloody campaign to topple the Iraqi government. Town residents
said there was no sign of guerillas on the streets on Friday. Many
insurgents moved to Ramadi after U.S. forces crushed their base in
nearby Falluja in November last year. U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a
new operation in an area west of Ramadi on Wednesday, sending more than
2,000 soldiers and Marines into Hit and surrounding towns to track down
militants and try to restore security ahead of polls. A thousand Shiite
and Sunni Muslims prayed together Friday in a demonstration of unity in
central Baghdad ahead of potentially divisive parliamentary elections
and following years of sectarian violence. After midday prayers, the two
groups held a demonstration whey they were united in their denunciation
of military and police raids and widespread arrests of people suspected
of participating in the insurgency. Men waved Iraqi flags and women
dressed in black robes carried posters of their missing sons. Some
protesters held up portraits of Sunni clerics that have been in killed
since the U.S. invasion in 2003.
Shiites make up the majority in Iraq, but were oppressed by former ruler
Saddam Hussein, who is a Sunni. Since Saddam’s overthrow, Shiites have
controlled most of the political power in Iraq, while the anti-U.S.
insurgency has been dominated by Sunnis. Sunni leaders have also
complained of attacks by Shiite death squads with ties to the
government. Sunni suicide bombers have targeted Shiite mosques and
gatherings. The discovery by U.S. troops more than two weeks ago of an
interior ministry jail filled with 173 detainees, some showing signs of
torture. |
