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Five U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Attack
Insurgents struck a U.S. military base north of Baghdad with rockets at dawn Saturday, killing five American soldiers, while a rocket crashed into a crowded market in the Iraqi capital, killing at least three people. Besides the deaths in the market, up to 12 Iraqis were killed Saturday in several attacks, including an apparent suicide car bombing in Tikrit, fighting in Baghdad's Sadr City, and clashes between Polish troops and Shiite militiamen in Karbala.The fighting in Sadr City, an eastern mostly Shiite district in the capital, came when U.S. forces launched raids against suspected militiamen, sparking a battle that the military said killed one or two Iraqis. During the fighting, three Iraqi girls were badly burned when a shell exploded in their bedroom where they slept. Hours later, a rocket slammed into the neighborhood's crowded Chicken Market, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, residents said. Human flesh could be seen among scattered market goods and burned-out cars in the chaotic street. It was unclear who fired the rocket or what its intended target was. The five U.S. solders were killed around dawn, when two 57-mm rockets slammed into the base in Taji, Air Force Lt. Col. Sam Hudspath said. Taji is a former Iraqi air force base 12 miles north of Baghdad that is now used by the Army's Texas-based 1st Cavalry Division. Six soldiers were wounded in the attack. Elsewhere, a Marine died from combat injuries suffered on April 14 while fighting guerrillas in Iraq's western Anbar province, the military announced. The Marines have been besieging the Anbar city of Fallujah since the beginning of the month, but the military has refused to specify whether Marine casualties from Anbar are from that campaign. Posted by: Fred 2004-04-24 |
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