| Iraqi politician killed in confrontation with U.S. soldiers
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 Posted: 2:10 PM EST (1910 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 10 explosions were heard Tuesday night in Baghdad, and smoke was rising from within the coalition's heavily secured Green Zone, which includes most of the Coalition Provisional Authority's activities.
A spokesman for the authority said officials are investigating.
A CNN security adviser at a Baghdad hotel saw two impacts in the zone and smoke rise from them.
A CNN crew in the area reports normal traffic and said bridges over the Tigris River near the Green Zone are open.
The blasts were heard just hours after the U.S. Army officer in charge of coalition ground forces in the country said that the tempo of attacks on U.S.-led troops has escalated.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters that the number of daily engagements between troops and guerrillas has doubled from the mid-teens to 30 to 35 within the last two months.
"What we're seeing is that unmistakably the number of engagements per day are increasing," Sanchez said.
By using rockets and mortars, those opposed to the U.S. presence also are employing more remote tactics to avoid direct combat with coalition troops, he said.
"When they do decide to engage, we're having good success in killing them," Sanchez said.
In addition, he said that a rocket-propelled grenade appeared to have hit a Black Hawk helicopter that went down Friday during "a vulnerable time" as it attempted to land. Six U.S. soldiers were killed in the downing.
Sanchez said that U.S. troops also have increased the "pace and intensity" of their military campaign against pro-Saddam Hussein guerrillas.
"We are taking the fight into the safe havens of the enemy in the heartland of the country, where we continue to face former regime loyalists, criminals and foreign terrorists," Sanchez said.
Thirty-eight U.S. troops have died in November to date, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 398. Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, 259 U.S. military members have been killed.
There is no reliable source for Iraqi civilian or combatant casualty figures, either during the period of major combat or after May 1. The Associated Press reported an estimated 3,240 civilian Iraqi deaths between March 20 and April 20, but the AP said that the figure was based on records of only half of Iraq's hospitals and the actual number was thought to be significantly higher.
Sanchez said more than 5,000 suspected terrorists of various nationalities are in custody and undergoing interrogation.
At one time, 20 suspected al Qaeda members were being questioned. It never was established that they belonged to the terrorist group, Sanchez said.
Killing sparks U.S. protests
U.S. military officials said Tuesday that U.S. soldiers shot to death the chairman of Sadr City's governing council during a heated argument this week. Sadr City is a largely Shiite neighborhood in the Iraqi capital, formerly known as Saddam City.
Officials said the quarrel got under way Monday when the chairman, Mohannad Ghazi al Kaabi, tried to park his car near the District Advisory Council building in an area closed to traffic. When U.S. troops tried to stop him, military officials said, he became agitated, got out of his car and began arguing with a soldier guarding the offices.
Al Kaabi wrestled the soldier to the ground and grabbed his gun, according to the officials. Another soldier shot al Kaabi in the upper thigh, they said.
A medic administered first aid to al Kaabi and transported him to a military medical facility, where he was pronounced dead.
The death is under investigation, military officials said.
About 200 to 300 demonstrators walked to the Sadr City council afterward to protest the killing and began chanting anti-American slogans.
Carrying Shiite banners mourning the death, demonstrators called for a thorough investigation. They demanded that American troops leave Sadr City and give security duties to Iraqi police.
Bombings in Basra, Baghdad
A bomb exploded Tuesday in British-controlled Basra, killing two people and wounding two, a British military official said. The bomber was killed in the blast, the official said.
No coalition soldiers were involved in the incident and there was no further detail about the other casualties.
In Baghdad, a witness said that an improvised device exploded Tuesday in front of an Iraqi court in the Wazirya neighborhood, wounding at least two prisoners and two Iraqi police officers.
In other action, Sanchez said Iraqi security forces captured an ambulance Monday carrying a "vehicle-mounted improvised explosive device" near Baghdad.
Police tried to stop the ambulance south of the al Daura police station, according a statement from the 1st Armored Division. The ambulance sped away, causing an accident, the statement said. Three people got out of the ambulance and fired small arms at the other vehicle involved in the accident before fleeing, the military said. | |
