11 Iraqis killed in roadside bombing
Foreign Desk Report
BAGHDAD (Iraq)—A roadside bomb killed 11 Iraqi soldiers and two wounded
others Saturday, following the deaths of 10 U.S. Marines in the
deadliest attack against American forces in four months. Elsewhere, a
U.S. base at Mosul’s airport came under mortar or rocket fire Saturday,
wounding two American soldiers, the U.S. military said. Several
detonations shook the installation — Forward Operating Base Courage —
about 6:50 a.m. the command said.
The attack against the Iraqi soldiers took place near Adhaim, about 60
miles north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. Following the blast, the
Iraqi convoy came under intense small arms fire, officials added.
Earlier this week, President George W. Bush outlined his strategy for
victory in Iraq, which calls for Iraqi forces to eventually replace U.S.
troops in the fight against insurgents.
The ambush against the Marines from Regimental Combat Team 8 occurred
Thursday outside Fallujah, the former insurgent bastion overrun by U.S.
forces in November 2004. The Marine unit, based at Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina, has suffered some of the highest casualties of the Iraq war.
The U.S. command did not release many details of the attack, but a
witness said it occurred at a mill in the village of Amiriyat al
Fallujah, just outside the city. “More than 20 troops entered there and
a huge explosion happened,” said Mohsen Mohammed. “Afterward, the
helicopters and tanks arrived in the area.”
The unit’s latest losses occurred Thursday and were among 14 new deaths
in Iraq announced by the military Friday. Altogether, at least 2,124
have died since the beginning of the war. Hours after the military
announced its grim news, Al-Jazeera broadcast a videotape and statement
in which the kidnappers of four Christian peace activists threatened to
kill the hostages — two Canadians, an American and a Briton — unless all
prisoners in U.S. and Iraqi detention centers are freed by Dec. 8.
Foreign Office Minister Douglas Alexander, interviewed by the British
Broadcasting Corp., condemned the release of the latest video of the
hostages. “We are concerned about the welfare of the hostages and
we deplore the release of these videos, not least because of the great
distress to the family of Mr. Kember and the other families involved,
but our policy on this is well established,” he said. “We condemn all
kidnappings and we hold the hostage takers responsible for their
safety.”
A leading member of the British anti-war movement, Anas Altikriti,
arrived Saturday in Iraq to try to win the release of the hostages. The
roadside bomb in Fallujah was fashioned out of four large artillery
shells, U.S. officials said.
Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
called the ambush a “very serious attack,” saying “it appears that this
group of Marines had collected — which is always a dangerous thing — in
sort of one location.” The military statement said seven of the wounded
later returned to duty and that the rest of the team was conducting
“counterinsurgency operations throughout Fallujah and the surrounding
area” to improve security for the Dec. 15 elections.
Names of the victims were not released pending notification of their
families. The statement also did not give the precise location of the
attack — the single deadliest against U.S. troops in Iraq since 14
Marines were killed Aug. 3 when a bomb destroyed their vehicle near
Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Also Friday, three U.S. soldiers from the 48th Brigade Combat Team were
killed in a traffic accident south of Baghdad, and the military said an
Army soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division died of wounds suffered
the previous day when his vehicle was struck by a rocket in Ramadi, 70
miles west of the capital.
U.S. forces have stepped up military operations throughout the Sunni
Arab regions west of Baghdad to cut off the flow of weapons, ammunition
and foreign fighters entering the country from Syria and to reduce
insurgent activity. As part of that campaign, the U.S. military on
Friday launched a new offensive — Operation Shank — in Ramadi, capital
of the insurgent-ridden Anbar province. About 200 Iraqi army soldiers
and 300 U.S. Marines were taking part in the offensive, the fifth in
Ramadi since Nov. 16.
U.S. officials hope the operations will enable Sunni Arabs to vote in
the parliamentary elections without fear of insurgent reprisals — which
the Americans blame in large part for the Sunni boycott of the January
balloting. Washington hopes a big Sunni turnout will produce a
government that can win the trust of the Sunnis, the backbone of the
insurgency, and convince more of them to lay down their arms. That would
hasten the day U.S. troops could go home.
However, many Sunni politicians fear that military operations so close
to the election will have a negative impact by frightening voters away
from the polls and deepening hostility to the Americans and their Iraqi
partners.
A major Sunni clerical group, the Association of Muslim Scholars,
appealed to the Arab League and human rights organizations to intervene
with the Americans to stop “the massacres in Anbar.” The Association is
believed to have ties to some Sunni insurgent groups and is an outspoken
critic of the American role in Iraq. U.S. casualties have been
increasing in recent weeks at a time of growing discontent within the
United States over the Iraq conflict. Senator John Warner, chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the ambush a “very serious
attack,” saying “it appears that this group of Marines had collected —
which is always a dangerous thing — in sort of one location.” The
military statement said seven of the wounded later returned to duty and
that the rest of the team was conducting “counterinsurgency operations
throughout Fallujah and the surrounding area” to improve security for
the Dec. 15 elections.
Names of the victims were not released pending notification of their
families. The statement also did not give the precise location of the
attack — the single deadliest against U.S. troops in Iraq since 14
Marines were killed Aug. 3 when a bomb destroyed their vehicle near
Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. |
