Two U.S. Soldiers Killed, 559 Iraqis Detained
The Qatar-based channel broadcast photos of jubilant Iraqis dancing on and around burned American military vehicle.
It also showed a smoldering ambulance, in which an Iraqi woman was found charred, after it was likely shelled by an American helicopter gunship.
Also Wednesday, U.S. troops came under mortar attacks and ambushes in Baquba, 60 kilometers from Baghdad, a battlefield of nightly and repeated attacks on the occupation forces.
On Saturday, July 26, three U.S. soldiers from the U.S. Army’s Fourth Infantry Division were killed and four others were injured in a grenade attack in Baqubah.
Since the start of May, a total of 51 U.S. soldiers have now been killed in attacks by Iraqis resistance fighters, according to an AFP count.
The war-ravaged country has descended into chaos and anarchy since American tanks rolled into Baghdad on April 9, and since then anti-American sentiments are running high among Iraqi citizens.
Massive Arrests
In another American provocation, U.S. forces detained 559 Iraqis in the past 24 hours as they pursued the search for elusive Saddam Hussein.
American forces conducted a total of 51 raids and 1,977 patrols, including 287 joint patrols with Iraqi police.
“The total raids and patrols resulted in 559 arrests including two for murder, four for robbery, five for aggravated assault, 39 for theft, two for controlled substance violation, 235 for weapons violations and 272 for various other crimes,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
The detentions were significantly higher than the figures normally announced by the military, reflecting the aggressive tactics being pursued on the ground, particularly in the region of Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit.
On Tuesday, an American army spokesman said 176 people were detained in a similar number of patrols and raids, while “very significant” weapons caches were seized, including 2,000 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).
Foreign News Services / Istanbul / TUR
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