Seraphim
08-08-2003, 05:23 AM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030808/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716
By D`ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer
TIKRIT, Iraq - U.S. snipers killed two men in a raid on a weapons market in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s hometown of Tikrit, while in Baghdad, morgue officials raised the death toll from Thursday's bombing of the Jordanian Embassy to 17.
After initially reporting 11 deaths, the morgue at a nearby children's hospital where the bodies were taken raised the number by six. Kahled Fajer Abbud, chief of the morgue, said two people died of their injuries overnight. He said the hospital was treating 36 injured people, including seven Jordanians.
The attack raised fears that a broader terrorist insurgency was emerging — a new form of violence in addition to the regular guerrilla attacks on U.S. occupation forces.
In the Tikrit market, women ran screaming as they heard the shots, witnesses said. A man who was unloading AK-47 assault rifles from the trunk of a red sedan fell to the ground, according to a witness who was selling biscuits.
U.S. forces had positioned snipers around the market after hearing that weapons and ammunition were sold every Friday, said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, whose 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, executed the operation.
"When people pick up weapons and carrying them freely, they become combatants and we will engage them," Russell said. "I think we sent out a strong message today that you cannot walk around the streets with weapons."
Hundreds of residents watched from across the road as soldiers examined the scene and Iraqi police removed a dead body covered in a black-and-white kaffiyah headscarf near the center of the market. Soldiers said he was shot as he tried to flee with an AK-47.
Beside the red car, about 10 yards away, the earth was soaked with blood at the spot where Russell said one of the alleged arms dealers was shot in the head as he unloaded three to four rifles. Soldiers showed reporters an ID card bearing the dead man's photo that was issued by Saddam Hussein's regime as a sign of privilege for supporters of the ousted regime.
Curved AK-47 cartridge clips lay carefully stacked in fours on a series of seven plastic tarps laid out in the dust behind the car. A tangle of red-and-blue wires and a crude bomb lay on one of the tarps.
One of the wounded men escaped, while the other was being treated for injuries at a nearby hospital, Russell said.
On Thursday, more than 50 people were wounded in the Jordanian embassy explosion, which set cars on fire, flung the hulk of one vehicle onto a rooftop and broke windows hundreds of yards away. On Friday, the Jordanian flag flew at half-mast as U.S. and Iraqi investigators sifted through the debris.
Witnesses outside the Jordanian compound in western Baghdad said a bomb was left in a parked minibus or sports utility vehicle and apparently was detonated by remote control.
"What this shows is that in fact we have some terrorists that are operating here," U.S. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S.-led forces in Iraq (news - web sites), said at a news conference. "It shows we are still in a conflict zone."
The attack on the embassy was a new kind of violence in Iraq, where guerrillas have been targeting American troops with bombs, grenades and Kalashnikovs.
Officials in Amman, the Jordanian capital, said evidence at the bombing scene suggested the attack was an "orchestrated terrorist attack" aimed at Jordan.
Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council issued a statement blaming members of Saddam's former government but making no mention of terrorism. Tensions between Jordan and Iraq have been high because of the Jordanian government's support for the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam's regime. Jordan also gave asylum last week to two of Saddam's daughters.
Shortly after the blast, young Iraqi men entered the embassy, chanting anti-Jordanian slogans and destroying photographs of Jordanian King Abdullah II and his late father, King Hussein. American soldiers and Iraqi police dispersed them.
One Iraqi said the young men hadn't been angry at Jordan but became enraged when an embassy guard shot at them when they first went into the compound after the bombing to help the wounded.
Jordan's Petra news agency said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) promised Jordan's foreign minister that U.S. troops would protect the embassy. But Sanchez said it was up to individual nations and Iraqi police to guard diplomatic missions.
In Washington, Powell said the attack strengthened U.S. resolve to "unite the world in this campaign against terrorism."
"The terrorists need to know that we will not be deterred," he said. "We are ever more determined to go after them wherever they are until this scourge is dealt with."
Elsewhere in Baghdad on Thursday, gunmen attacked a U.S. patrol on a busy shopping street, sparking a fierce gunbattle between Iraqis with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles and Americans with armored Bradley fighting vehicles. Two U.S. soldiers were reported wounded.
By D`ARCY DORAN, Associated Press Writer
TIKRIT, Iraq - U.S. snipers killed two men in a raid on a weapons market in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s hometown of Tikrit, while in Baghdad, morgue officials raised the death toll from Thursday's bombing of the Jordanian Embassy to 17.
After initially reporting 11 deaths, the morgue at a nearby children's hospital where the bodies were taken raised the number by six. Kahled Fajer Abbud, chief of the morgue, said two people died of their injuries overnight. He said the hospital was treating 36 injured people, including seven Jordanians.
The attack raised fears that a broader terrorist insurgency was emerging — a new form of violence in addition to the regular guerrilla attacks on U.S. occupation forces.
In the Tikrit market, women ran screaming as they heard the shots, witnesses said. A man who was unloading AK-47 assault rifles from the trunk of a red sedan fell to the ground, according to a witness who was selling biscuits.
U.S. forces had positioned snipers around the market after hearing that weapons and ammunition were sold every Friday, said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, whose 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, executed the operation.
"When people pick up weapons and carrying them freely, they become combatants and we will engage them," Russell said. "I think we sent out a strong message today that you cannot walk around the streets with weapons."
Hundreds of residents watched from across the road as soldiers examined the scene and Iraqi police removed a dead body covered in a black-and-white kaffiyah headscarf near the center of the market. Soldiers said he was shot as he tried to flee with an AK-47.
Beside the red car, about 10 yards away, the earth was soaked with blood at the spot where Russell said one of the alleged arms dealers was shot in the head as he unloaded three to four rifles. Soldiers showed reporters an ID card bearing the dead man's photo that was issued by Saddam Hussein's regime as a sign of privilege for supporters of the ousted regime.
Curved AK-47 cartridge clips lay carefully stacked in fours on a series of seven plastic tarps laid out in the dust behind the car. A tangle of red-and-blue wires and a crude bomb lay on one of the tarps.
One of the wounded men escaped, while the other was being treated for injuries at a nearby hospital, Russell said.
On Thursday, more than 50 people were wounded in the Jordanian embassy explosion, which set cars on fire, flung the hulk of one vehicle onto a rooftop and broke windows hundreds of yards away. On Friday, the Jordanian flag flew at half-mast as U.S. and Iraqi investigators sifted through the debris.
Witnesses outside the Jordanian compound in western Baghdad said a bomb was left in a parked minibus or sports utility vehicle and apparently was detonated by remote control.
"What this shows is that in fact we have some terrorists that are operating here," U.S. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S.-led forces in Iraq (news - web sites), said at a news conference. "It shows we are still in a conflict zone."
The attack on the embassy was a new kind of violence in Iraq, where guerrillas have been targeting American troops with bombs, grenades and Kalashnikovs.
Officials in Amman, the Jordanian capital, said evidence at the bombing scene suggested the attack was an "orchestrated terrorist attack" aimed at Jordan.
Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council issued a statement blaming members of Saddam's former government but making no mention of terrorism. Tensions between Jordan and Iraq have been high because of the Jordanian government's support for the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam's regime. Jordan also gave asylum last week to two of Saddam's daughters.
Shortly after the blast, young Iraqi men entered the embassy, chanting anti-Jordanian slogans and destroying photographs of Jordanian King Abdullah II and his late father, King Hussein. American soldiers and Iraqi police dispersed them.
One Iraqi said the young men hadn't been angry at Jordan but became enraged when an embassy guard shot at them when they first went into the compound after the bombing to help the wounded.
Jordan's Petra news agency said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) promised Jordan's foreign minister that U.S. troops would protect the embassy. But Sanchez said it was up to individual nations and Iraqi police to guard diplomatic missions.
In Washington, Powell said the attack strengthened U.S. resolve to "unite the world in this campaign against terrorism."
"The terrorists need to know that we will not be deterred," he said. "We are ever more determined to go after them wherever they are until this scourge is dealt with."
Elsewhere in Baghdad on Thursday, gunmen attacked a U.S. patrol on a busy shopping street, sparking a fierce gunbattle between Iraqis with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles and Americans with armored Bradley fighting vehicles. Two U.S. soldiers were reported wounded.