GI Killed, 2 Hurt in Attack at Iraq Base

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A U.S. soldier holds his 9mm pistol as he rests in the shade after one of the numerous protests in the capital, Wedsday, July 30, 2003, in Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites). As three months since the official end of the war on the regime of Iraq comes, coalition soldiers begin to tire of dealing with the frustrations of local Iraqis who expect a speedy resolution to the many problems plaguing the newly emerging regime. (AP Photo/Samir Mezban)

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US soldiers block a street in Baghdad during a raid. A US soldier was killed and two wounded by small arms fire at a base northeast of the capital(AFP/File/Joseph Barrak)



TIKRIT, Iraq - A U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded by small-arms fire at their base in northern Iraq (news - web sites), the military said Thursday.


The U.S. Central Command said the soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division came under attack at a forward position 50 miles northeast of Baghdad at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday.


The wounded soldiers, who weren't identified until their families were notified, were taken to a military hospital for treatment, Centcom said in a statement.


The death brought to 50 the number of U.S. troops killed in hostile action since May 1, when President Bush (news - web sites) declared an end to major combat in Iraq. In all, 165 Americans have been killed in combat in Iraq, 18 more than died in the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites).


The attack came 25 miles east of Baqouba, where U.S. troops have come under repeated attack recently, especially by mortar fire.


It is in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," a heavily Sunni Muslim area to the north and west of Baghdad where support for ousted dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) has been strongest and where U.S. forces have come under the most attacks.


The death of the soldier late Wednesday broke a period of relative peace. No U.S. soldier had been reported killed in combat in Iraq in more than 48 hours.

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U.S. Army Sargent Nails, from the 1st Batallion 22nd regiment of the 4th Infantry Divison patrols the streets of Tikrit, Iraq late Tuesday night.



BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 31 — A U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded by small-arms fire at their base in northern Iraq, the military said Thursday.


THE U.S. Central Command said the soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division came under attack at a forward position 50 miles northeast of Baghdad at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday.
The wounded soldiers, who weren’t identified until their families were notified, were taken to a military hospital for treatment, Centcom said in a statement.
The death brought to 50 the number of U.S. troops killed in hostile action since May 1, when President Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq. In all, 165 Americans have been killed in combat in Iraq, 18 more than died in the 1991 Gulf War.
The attack came 25 miles east of Baqouba, where U.S. troops have come under repeated attack recently, especially by mortar fire.
It is in the so-called “Sunni Triangle,” a heavily Sunni Muslim area to the north and west of Baghdad where support for ousted dictator Saddam Hussein has been strongest and where U.S. forces have come under the most attacks.
The death of the soldier late Wednesday broke a period of relative peace. No U.S. soldier had been reported killed in combat in Iraq in more than 48 hours.

CENTRAL IRAQ A ‘WAR ZONE’
Amid the almost daily attacks on American troops, the top U.S. military commander said Tuesday that central Iraq remains a war zone.
Nearly three months after President Bush declared major military operations over in Iraq, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers said central Iraq, from Baghdad to Tikrit, was still a “war zone.”
“Eighty percent of the security incidents are happening there,” Myers said during a visit to India. “It’s fair to say it’s still a war zone in that area.”
“Militarily we won’t be defeated in Iraq. We will stay until the job is done,” he said at a news conference Tuesday in New Delhi.


Meantime, U.S. soldiers said Monday they found buried weapons outside an abandoned building that once belonged to the Fedayeen, Saddam’s feared militia.
The troops on Monday uncovered 40 anti-tank mines, dozens of mortar rounds and hundreds of pounds of gunpowder.
Maj. Bryan Luke, 37, of Mobile, Ala., said the weaponry was enough for a month of guerrilla attacks and the discovery “saved a few lives out there.”
“Forty mines could have caused a lot of problems for U.S. forces here in Tikrit,” he said.

SEARCH FOR SADDAM
On Tuesday, U.S. forces captured one of Saddam Hussein’s bodyguards, Adnan Abdullah Abid al-Musslit, and at least two other suspected associates in early morning raids in Tikrit. Documents netted in the raids could aid in the hunt for Saddam Hussein, the U.S. military said.
U.S. detains Saddam's bodyguard

The United States is offering $25 million for information leading to the arrest or proof of death of Saddam.



At least twice in the past week, U.S. soldiers have raided houses where they believed they may have missed Saddam by less than 24 hours — once in the northern city of Mosul, where Saddam’s sons Odai and Qusai were killed by U.S. forces last Tuesday, and once at a farmhouse near Tikrit.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Sunday that U.S. officials thought there would be a spike in violence after the sons’ deaths, but he said there had also been a beneficial increase in information coming in from Iraqi informants.