US Soldier Killed in Bomb Explosion

13/01/2004| IslamWeb

A US soldier was killed and two wounded in a roadside bombing yesterday in Baghdad, a US military spokesman said. "One 1st Armoured Division soldier was killed and two were wounded when their convoy was attacked by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in central Baghdad," the spokesman said. In Tikrit, US soldiers shot dead seven members of an armed gang allegedly trying to steal oil from a pipeline in central Iraq. A group of 40 men armed with AK-47 assault rifles in 10 to 15 vehicles were spotted at the pipeline by the troops who were led to the area by an Iraqi informant, said an army spokesman, Master Sgt Robert Cargie. US troops, armed with M-16 rifles and 125mm cannons mounted on Bradley fighting vehicles, shot at the alleged thieves, killing seven of them in a gunfight, he said. The remaining people escaped, he said. The incident occurred in an area south of Samarra, 100km north of Baghdad. Three fuel trucks and one transport truck were destroyed during the clash, Cargie added. In Kut, seven people were lightly injured when clashes erupted during a demonstration by about 1,000 unemployed men , local police said. A spokesman for the US-led coalition said Ukrainian soldiers had fired warning shots when protestors started to move toward the troops. "There was a demonstration of 1,000 people. They started to be offensive and moving forward and shouting, so the Ukrainians fired some warning shots in the air," said Polish Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Strzelecki. Local police chief Abdel Moneim Abdelrazzak Mohand said four Iraqi policemen and two Ukrainian soldiers were lightly wounded, while another police officer said a demonstrator had been taken to hospital for treatment. ***Iraq Partition Plans 'Alarming'*** Meanwhile any plan to split Iraq into ethnic Kurdish, Sunni or Shi'ite Muslim territory would have grave consequences for the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain said yesterday. In a speech on the impact of the "New Iraq" on Gulf states, Prince Turki Al Faisal also warned that the country could degenerate into a regional base for terror. His comments reflected regional fears the US will opt for a federal solution for ethnically and religiously fragmented Iraq, which some of Iraq's neighbours believe could destabilise the Gulf, for example through the rising power of Shi'ites in southern Iraq or Kurdish autonomy in the north. "There is a set of dangers facing Gulf countries. The first one is linked to the occupation of Iraq which can lead to many scenarios, the most dangerous of which is the partitioning of Iraq. The second (scenario) is that Iraq becomes a den for terrorists," he said. A third possibility is that Iraq remains "an American colony" and base for American forces, run according to US self-interest, he said. The Saudi envoy said division of Iraq would achieve a long-time Israeli policy. **PHOTO CAPTION*** US soldiers are reflected in rain water on a flooded road in Tikrit. (AFP/File/Jewel Samad)