Two US Soldiers Killed as Iraqi Forces Move into Fallujah

Two US Soldiers Killed as Iraqi Forces Move into Fallujah
A car-bomb attack on Friday killed at least two marines and wounded six near their camp in Fallujah, the US military said. Earlier, US marines began withdrawing from the southeastern part of the Iraqi city of Fallujah where they have held positions for the last three weeks, according to AFP. The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines Regiment left frontline bases in the abandoned factories and garages of Fallujah's southern industrial area, the report added. Some 70 to 80 marines remained at an abandoned factory that had served as the battalion's center for operations inside the city and they were inclined to move later in the day to a base outside of Fallujah. Members of a new Iraqi force moved into the former Marine positions and raised the Iraqi flag. The US withdrawal follows a political settlement with Iraqi fighters. A US military commander told reporters Thursday that responsibility for security would be given to an Iraqi security force led by a former general from Iraqi army. Marines would then pull out from the northern part of the city, Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne told reporters. **Three foreign civilians shot dead in Iraq as al Sadr says US is enemy of Islam*** A civilian employed by a company of contractors has become the first Filipino to be killed in Iraq, President Gloria Arroyo said, vowing the incident would not cause her to pullout troops from the occupied Arab country. Arroyo condemned the attack but pledged to keep the country's 3,000 civilian workers, 43 Filipino soldiers and eight policemen in Iraq. The victim drove a truck for a Kuwait-based company, AFP reported. The foreign Ministry in Manila said two unidentified Ukrainians were also killed in the attack. Foreign Ministry spokesman Julia Heidemann told reporters the man was killed Thursday when a 50-vehicle convoy that delivered supplies into Iraq for US contractor Kellogg Brown and Root was attacked by Iraqi fighters while on its way back to Kuwait. Meanwhile, Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr told worshippers at Friday prayers that he will not accept calls to tone down his anti-American rhetoric, adding that "America is the enemy of Islam and Muslims, and jihad is the path of my ancestors." Al-Sadr made the speech at a mosque in the Iraqi city of Kufa. U.S. forces have surrounded Najaf, where al-Sadr is based. In his address, al-Sadr said: "Some people have asked me to tone down my words and to avoid escalation with the Americans. My response is that I reject any appeasement with the occupation and I will not give up defending the rights of the believers. America is the enemy of Islam and Muslims and jihad is the path of my ancestors." **PHOTO CAPTION*** An Iraqi child sits behind barbed wire at a US checkpoint at the entrance of Fallujah. (AFP)

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