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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Hard boyz kidnap American, launch attacks |
| 2005-04-12 |
| Iraqi insurgents struck Monday in ways large and small and deadly, launching a concerted attack on U.S. forces near the Syrian border, detonating a truck bomb in a crowded market in Samarra and kidnapping an American contractor in the Baghdad area. The U.S. Embassy declined to release details about the kidnapping, saying only that it occurred midday at the site of a reconstruction project. The man's family was notified, an embassy spokesman said. The violence came as hundreds of Iraqi and American troops swept through a large section of Baghdad, raiding homes and arresting dozens of people suspected of links to the insurgency. The raids provided the latest example of the growing role Iraqi forces play in combating the guerrillas. Iraq's new leaders, with the support of American officials, are working toward a transfer of security duties that would allow U.S.-led forces to draw down their numbers. "We are trying to build as soon as possible our military forces," said Jalal Talabani, Iraq's newly elected president. "I think within two years we can do it." But in an interview Sunday with CNN, Talabani said Iraq still was "in great need to have American and other allied forces" and would remain so "until we will be assured that there will be no danger from terrorism." How soon the United States can start drawing down troops in earnest depends not only on how quickly Iraqi forces can get trained, equipped and battle-tested. It also depends on something harder to judge: the strength of the insurgents. Guerrilla attacks are down across most of Iraq, and U.S. casualties have dropped dramatically in the last six weeks. But the attacks Monday showed that the insurgents remain active and deadly in several regions of the country. The attack at Husaybah along the Syrian border came about 8:30 a.m. when insurgents assaulted Camp Gannon with three vehicle bombs, two packed into cars and a third in a firetruck. Other fighters opened fire with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, apparently trying to take out Marine sentries in guard towers, a Marine commander said. One car bomb went off well outside the camp in what Marines suspect may have been a diversion. The other two vehicle bombs were driven into the wall on the eastern side of the camp, said Lt. Col. T.S. Mundy, commanding officer of Task Force 3/2 at Qaim. "The Marines on post fired on both vehicles, and probably were successful in causing them to detonate short of their targets," Mundy said. "The perimeter is still intact. ... The Marines held their ground." A U.S. attack helicopter also destroyed a car with a gunman inside, officials said. Mundy said a few Marines suffered minor wounds, and hospital officials said three civilians were injured. The assault was similar to, though smaller than, an insurgent attack April 2 on the U.S. military base at Abu Ghraib prison. Both assaults were claimed by the group Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The Abu Ghraib battle lasted two hours and left dozens wounded on both sides, the military said. Fighting also was reported Monday in the town of Qaim a few miles inside the border. Al-Zarqawi's group claimed on its Web site to be in control of the town, and there were reports of several deaths. There was no indication that U.S. forces were involved. The Samarra bombing targeted a U.S. military convoy as it patrolled a crowded market. At least three people were killed and more than 20 were wounded, including four U.S. soldiers, officials told The Associated Press. Most of the injured were women and children, AP said. The raids in Baghdad's al-Rasheed district were the biggest in weeks, involving about 500 Iraqi troops and 200 American soldiers, the military said. The targets were insurgents and criminals who have turned certain neighborhoods into battlegrounds where Iraqi police fear to go and U.S. forces come under frequent fire. The zone includes the Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad, which over the last several months has seen scores of kidnappings, bombings and killings. Over the weekend, a Shiite cleric from Karbala and a police official from Najaf were killed in Dora. The troops, moving on foot through the crowded streets, arrested 65 suspects. One suspect was injured, as was one Iraqi soldier. The district is known for "harboring terrorist networks," a military statement said. "Those detained are suspected of committing numerous crimes and activities to include assassinations, beheadings, kidnapping, intimidation and attacks," the military said. The kidnapping gangs operating in Dora and elsewhere target Iraqis more than foreigners. The goal is to collect ransom, not make a political statement. But some Westerners have been kidnapped by criminal gangs and then sold up a chain to groups such as al-Zarqawi's. The militants use them to publicize their violent campaigns and raise money from rich backers, mostly in foreign countries. The U.S. Embassy declined to release details about the kidnapping of the American contractor. Soldiers on guard duty in the heavily defended Green Zone stepped up searches of vehicles in response to the kidnapping, but an embassy spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity denied that the abduction happened inside the protected zone. Also Monday, a Pakistani government official said a group claiming to have kidnapped a Pakistani Embassy official over the weekend demanded money for his release, the AP reported. Malik Mohammed Javed, a deputy counselor at the Pakistani mission in Baghdad, went missing late Saturday after leaving home for prayers at a nearby mosque. The previously unknown Omar bin Khattab group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, and Javed called the embassy to say his abductors had not harmed him, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said. The threat of kidnapping has become a major impediment to reconstruction efforts. And the reconstruction efforts are considered key to putting down the insurgency and clearing the way for U.S. forces to leave Iraq. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |