ARAB TIMES (Kuwait): Rumsfeld lauds wonderful start ... 7 soldiers wounded

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

BAGHDAD, (Agencies): Seven American soldiers have been wounded by unknown attackers in separate incidents north of Baghdad, the US army said Saturday. "Four soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were wounded Sept 5 when their convoy was ambushed by small arms fire, four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and two rocket-propelled grenades near Kayarah," said a statement. Kayarah is near the oil-rich northern city of Mosul.

Two other troops were wounded Friday by unknown attackers near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, while another American soldier was injured when his convoy was hit by small arms fire and an IED near Muqdadiyah in northern Iraq, the army said. No further details of the attacks or injuries were provided. Army explosives experts meanwhile defused a mine they found Friday on a diesel pipeline near Kayarah, the statement added. Coalition forces here say the daily attacks they face are carried out by Saddam loyalists and other anti-American extremists.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld inspected Saturday a Polish-led division deployed in central Iraq while Britain rushed in more troops to help stem rising lawlessness in the occupied country. While Rumsfeld pressed his first-hand review of Iraq's security needs for a third day, an additional 120 British troops were to arrive from their base in Cyprus, a military spokesman said. The reinforcements came with Washington working on two fronts to bolster security, offering crash training programs to double the size of the various Iraqi services and seeking a UN mandate for an expanded international force. Rumsfeld, who arrived Thursday on an unannounced visit, took a helicopter Saturday to the ruins of Babylon to meet with officers and troops of the 21-nation division holding down a large chunk of south-central Iraq.

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