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| Iraq |
| 10 marines killed in IED attack near Fallujah |
| 2005-12-03 |
| Ten U.S. Marines were killed by an Iraqi bomb in one of the bloodiest incidents of the war for Americans, a day after President George W. Bush laid out a strategy he said would defeat the insurgency. And in a videotape message shown on Friday, Iraqi insurgents holding four Westerners hostages threatened to kill them if Iraqi detainees are not released by Dec. 8. Thursday's attack on the Marines, two weeks before Iraqis vote for a new parliament, struck a foot patrol near Falluja. Eleven Marines were wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED), the military said on Friday. "The patrol was attacked with an IED fashioned from several large artillery shells," the Marines said. Seven of the wounded had returned to active duty. U.S. commanders have expressed concern in recent months at the increasing use of more powerful and sophisticated roadside bombs. The high death toll on Thursday indicated an extremely powerful blast. Typically, U.S. troops keep themselves well spaced out when on foot patrols to avoid the risk of mass casualties. Local officials in Falluja said they were aware of a bomb attack on U.S. troops overnight near Amiriya, 30 km south of Falluja. U.S. officials declined further comment, however, and it was unclear if this was the same incident. Falluja was the site of the biggest battle since U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein in April 2003 -- dozens of troops and hundreds of Iraqis were killed in the city, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad in November last year. Since then Falluja has been relatively quiet but the wider province of Anbar, comprising much of Iraq's western desert, has remained a stronghold of Sunni Arab groups opposed to the occupation and the Shi'ite-led government it helped install. Some guerrilla forces are loyal to the Islamist goals of al Qaeda and the movement's appointed leader in Iraq, Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but many are more secular in outlook and owe loyalties principally to tribal or nationalist leaders or to Saddam's Sunni-dominated Baath party, now outlawed. Arabic television station Al Jazeera showed a tape of what it said were two Canadian hostages receiving food from their captors. An American and a Briton were shown speaking in what the channel said was a call for detainees to be released. It was not possible to hear what the men were saying. "They gave those concerned with the hostages until the 8th of this month before killing them if their demands are not met," the Arabic broadcaster said. The four, seized in Baghdad, are members of the peace and humanitarian organisation Christian Peacemaker Teams, one of the few remaining aid groups operating in Iraq. Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin called the threat "... a callous act of terror against innocent people." A State Department official strongly condemned the actions of those holding the humanitarian workers. "We call for their immediate and unconditional release and for the release of all hostages in Iraq," said the official, who asked not to be named. Separately, the mother and sister of a German woman, Susanne Osthoff, taken hostage in Iraq called on her kidnappers to show mercy and release her in an appeal shown on Al Jazeera. In Ramadi, Anbar's regional capital to the west of Falluja, about 500 U.S. and Iraqi troops launched an operation they said was designed to disrupt guerrilla activity before the election. Insurgents staged a show of force in the city on Thursday, firing mortar rounds near a U.S. base and official buildings. Letting themselves be filmed by news cameramen, masked men wielding rifles and grenade launchers distributed leaflets saying al Qaeda was in charge of the town. Within hours, however, the gunmen had gone from the streets and there was no sign of them on Friday. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Not killed by Bush, killed by Terrorist. Rest in Peace, Buddies. |
| Posted by: Angaitch Shomoger7879 2005-12-03 16:20 |