Iraqi Ambushes Against U.S. Troops Kill 4

26/06/2003| IslamWeb

Assailants launched a wave of ambushes against U.S. forces in Iraq, dropping grenades from an overpass, blowing up a vehicle with a roadside bomb and destroying a civilian SUV traveling with U.S. troops, soldiers and Iraqi police said Thursday. At least two U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi civilians were killed. The onslaught was part of a spiraling series of attacks on occupation forces despite assurances that the troops are mopping up Iraqi resistance. On Tuesday, six British soldiers were killed in a southern town, undercoring the spread of anti-coalition violence. In latest wave of attacks, a bomb exploded Thursday by a U.S. military vehicle on the road leading to Baghdad's airport, killing one U.S. soldier and injuring another. The airport road, heavily used by U.S. forces, has been the scene of a series of ambushes using trip wires dangling from overpasses or grenades tossed from bridges. Last month, two U.S. soldiers were killed and two injured when a Humvee detonated an anti-tank mine hidden under debris on the highway. On Wednesday afternoon, ambushers dropped grenades from a Baghdad overpass onto a passing convoy of Army Humvees, said Marine Corps Maj. Sean Gibson. There were no serious injuries. In Hilla, 45 miles south of Baghdad, three Marines were wounded Wednesday in an ambush, a U.S. military statement said. One Marine was killed and two were injured when their vehicle - part of a quick reaction force dispatched in response to the ambush - rolled over on the soft shoulder on the way to the scene. On Thursday, two Iraqi employees of the national electricity authority were killed when their U.S.-led convoy came under a grenade attack in west Baghdad, U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police said. The convoy included U.S. Humvees at the front and the back and two Iraqi civilian vehicles in the middle. The soldiers and Iraqi police said the two Iraqis who were killed were traveling in the same car. U.S. troops evacuated the two bodies from the badly damaged vehicle, which was covered with blood and broken glass. None of the names of the injured or killed Americans were available. **Syria Wants Explanation for US Raid on Iraqi Border*** Syria says it is still awaiting an explanation from the United States a week after five of its border guards were detained in a US special forces raid on the frontier with Iraq. The foreign ministry has yet to receive any response to a formal protest it lodged with US ambassador Theodore Kattouf on June 19, the official SANA news agency said late Wednesday. The ministry demanded "an explanation from the US government ... and the return of the wounded soldiers for treatment in Syria in order to avoid any misunderstanding that might lead to an esclalation neither side wants," the SANA statement said. "The ministry is still waiting." US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged Tuesday that no wanted Iraqi officials were found in the June 19 raid by Task Force 20, a secret unit set up to hunt down senior members of Saddam Hussein's regime. Other US officials said five Syrian borderguards were held in a subsequent clash, three of whom were wounded. They said the raid may even have taken place in Syrian territory. But Rumsfeld defended the intelligence that prompted the attack against what he said was a suspicious convoy exiting Iraq and insisted Washington was in contact with Damascus over the incident. **PHOTO CAPTION*** US soldiers push a van bearing Government plates shortly after unknown men lobbed a grenade at a passing convoy in Baghdad, Iraq on Thursday June 26, 2003. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)