US soldier killed in Iraq attack
A US soldier was killed today in northern Iraq and 13 troops were injured in a mortar attack north of Baghdad, the US command said.
Witnesses also reported that a roadside bomb injured several other troops in Fallujah in the sixth attack by insurgents there in as many days.
The dead soldier, assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, was killed by small arms fire before dawn in the northern city of Mosul, the US Central Command said. No further details were released and the name was withheld until next of kin were informed.
The death brings to 106 the number of American soldiers killed by hostile fire since President George W Bush declared an end to major combat May 1.
The 13 injured soldiers, from the 4th Infantry Division, were wounded last night when a mortar round struck at hangar at Camp War Horse near Baqouba, about 40 miles north-east of Baghdad, US officials said.
Three were seriously injured and evacuated but the others were treated at the local aid station, the command said. US troops fired back and pursued the attackers, the command said, but there was no word on any insurgent casualties.
In a separate incident, the 4th Infantry Division also said two Iraqis were killed after a patrol of its 2nd Brigade was attacked near Baqouba by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire at 10pm last night. The Americans pursued the attackers into a house and killed the pair, it said.
Also yesterday, US troops detained six men digging by a roadside near Beiji, 120 miles north of Baghdad, with the intention to place makeshift bombs there, the 4th Division reported.
In Baghdad, at least two Iraqis were killed and seven injured when rockets fell overnight in the Ad-Doura neighbourhood of the capital, residents said.
The rockets smashed into several stalls in the Ad-Doura market, leaving a half-metre-long crater. It also caused slight damage to the Ad-Doura power plant, the city’s largest, located about half-a-mile away.
There was no report from the US military command in Baghdad about the attack in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad. However, Iraqi witnesses said it occurred this morning near a bridge at the western end of the city.
The witnesses said three injured US soldiers were evacuated after American soldiers sprayed the area with gunfire. After the attack, troops detained several Iraqi civilians, including one who was dragged from his vehicle and punched repeatedly in the kidney as he fell to the ground.
It was the sixth straight day of attacks against American forces in Fallujah since gunners blasted a disabled ammunition truck thereon Sunday, causing no casualties but setting off thunderous explosions.
