Guerrillas Wound Two U.S. Soldiers in Iraq Attack

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030805/ts_nm/iraq_raids_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A rocket-propelled grenade attack on a police station west of Baghdad on Tuesday wounded at least two U.S. soldiers, the latest victims of a guerrilla war that has killed 53 American troops in the last three months.

In Baghdad, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq (news - web sites) warned that lack of security could deter donors from providing desperately needed aid to keep the country afloat in 2004.

The grenade slammed into a police station in the restive town of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of the capital. Two U.S. soldiers were taken away in an ambulance as a crowd gathered, chanting their support for deposed president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

"We sacrifice our blood and our souls for you, Saddam," they shouted. The fugitive (news - Y! TV) dictator has so far evaded capture despite a $25 million price on his head.

more

[samsingh]

1. do you get the feeling that this is a quagmire?

attacks every single day. getting bolder all the time.

[flyingfish]

2. Quagmire no!

Mission Accomplished yes!

Did you miss the show on the boat?
If Bush says so, it must be!

[TSElliott]

5. quagmire no

Same thing happened in Germany after WWII

[jmcgowanjm]

3. this wasn't the same police station attacked by mob was it?n/t

[ewagner]

4. Sounds like it

n/t

[IndianaGreen]

6. The real story is that prior to that US soldiers shot several children!

The previous story is posted here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=51439&mesg_id=51439

The confusion comes from the fact that the US reporters are not on the scene, they are merely reporting what they hear from the military, hence the story places the incident in Fallujah. The non-American reporters are on the scene, and have pictures of the incident. They report the correct location of the incident as Khaldiya.

American reporters prefer to report on CENTCOM communiques rather than venture into the country.



First created :
05 August 2003 0905 hrs (SST) 0105 hrs (GMT)
Last modified :
05 August 2003 0905 hrs (SST) 0105 hrs (GMT)

Iraqis storm police station after firefight with US soldiers


An angry crowd on Monday stormed and ransacked a police station in the town of Khaldiya, some 80 kilometres west of Baghdad.

According to eyewitnesses, the trouble started when a group of Iraqi insurgents laid an ambush for a US military convoy passing through the town.

<snip>

US soldiers responded to the attack with gunfire, and hit several local people, including children, according to eyewitnesses.

An angry armed crowd then assembled at the spot and attacked the police station, whose officers had come to rescue the US soldiers.

The station was then stormed and ransacked after a fierce gunbattle.

The fate of the US soldiers and Iraqi policemen inside the station was still unclear, but it was thought they had escaped.

The jubilant crowd burned police vehicles and shouted anti-American slogans, and armed insurgents were seen driving through the town, shooting into the air.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/middleeast/view/46062/1/.html

[Rose Siding]

7. Do you mean the one when Brits were killed last month?

That would be in the south, maybe Basra and that's different.

[IndianaGreen]

8. Basra is was SE of Baghdad, right by the Gulf

Basra is also a Shia stronghold. The incident that you are referring to was in June.

[starroute]

9. It looks like there were three separate incidents

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/world/Viewdet.asp?ID=856&cat=b

Five US soldiers and an Iraqi translator were wounded in attacks here Monday and a police station was torched as the US-led coalition scoured the globe for nations willing to replace some of its combat-weary troops.

<snip>

In a bold move, insurgents wounded three soldiers and an Iraqi translator in an anti-tank rocket and bomb attack Monday near the heavily-fortified Baghdad police headquarters, the nexus for law enforcement in the city of five million. It was the second attack of the day after soldiers were again ambushed on the lethal route to Baghdad airport, where convoys regularly come under fire.

"Today, at 9:25am (0525 GMT), on the airport road, an improvised explosive device was thrown on a convoy of the Third Armoured Division," Sergeant Marc Ingham said. "Two soldiers were wounded and one Humvee disabled." In a third clash on Monday, Iraqi police opened fire on armed men who fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a US military vehicle and accompanying police in Khalidiya, 100 kilometres (60miles) west of Baghdad.

Residents protesting the presence of US troops attacked the Khalidiya town hall and a police station, which they set alight, as the US army called in helicopter-backed reinforcements to restore order in the town, considered a hotbed of support for the former regime. It was a setback for the US-led coalition's efforts to rehabilitate the country's security services, as training for the post-war Iraqi army was due to get underway this week.