Four US Soldiers Killed in Baghdad Attack, Eight Iraqis Killed at Mosque

01/07/2003| IslamWeb

Four US soldiers were killed and two others wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on their vehicle by unknown assailants in central Baghdad, said Iraqi witnesses. The attack occurred at 10:00 am when assailants fired an RPG at a US Humvee light multi-wheeled vehicle near a gas station in the al-Mustansiriya neighborhood, they said. "These explosions are a message to the Americans because they have done nothing for the Iraqi people. There will be more and more explosions," said Mohammad Owdeh, a local resident. Four US troops were killed and two others wounded, they said. The casualties were immediately removed from the scene.Witnesses said the Humvee was totally burnt. An Iraqi civilian was also wounded and taken to hospital, said the witnesses, confirming that his 18-seat transport bus parked by the gas station was completely torched. US troops immediately cordoned off the area, preventing journalists from approaching the scene. A US military official said that there was still no word on US casualties and that "the incident has not been qualified as an attack yet." **U.S. Troops Kill Eight Iraqis at Mosque *** A massive explosion in a mosque killed at least eight Iraqis and injured four others in this restive town, witnesses and officials said Tuesday. The blast raised tensions in a region already simmering with anti-American activity. Iraqi civilians said the explosion late Monday in Fallujah was caused by U.S troops missile strike. "All of the dead were imams of mosques and they were taking part in religious classes," said one local man, Saad Ali Rihan. "They were performing their religious duties and American missiles hit them. Is that democracy?" Hours after the explosion, dozens of people gathered around the destroyed mosque shouting anti-American slogans amid the rubble. Several local people said the room of the mosque's own imam had been destroyed by the blast. "The ceilings of two rooms fell in," Yassin Hamed said at a hospital during the night as doctors treated the imam. The cleric's head was smeared with blood and his eyes bandaged. "His leg was amputated and his eyes have been hurt too." "There is no god but Allah, America is the enemy of Allah," they chanted, as a crane lifted large pieces of concrete from the site. A witness said that after the evening prayer, he heard aircraft hovering overhead and then heard the sound of the explosion. On Tuesday morning about a dozen Iraqis remained, sifting through the rubble for pieces of metal they said proved the damage was caused by an American attack. "These are pieces of a missile," said Aqeel Ibrahim Ali, 26, who was standing on a concrete slab overlooking the destruction, holding out a box filled with metal shards. "An airplane shot a missile." The U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad said it had no information on the incident. Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, has been a hotbed of Iraqi resistance and anti-American activity and scene of several confrontations between U.S. troops and insurgents. U.S. soldiers shot and killed 20 protesters in April, provoking widespread resentment. U.S. troops have been increasingly targeted in recent weeks, raising fears that their mission will become mired by a guerrilla-style insurgency. More than 20 American and six British troops have been killed by hostile fire since George Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Iraqis mill around the bodies of three men outside a Fallujah hospital, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, Iraq, after they were brought by US forces Monday June 30, 2003. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)