Seraphim
03-14-2004, 06:16 AM
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040314/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Four American soldiers died in two bomb explosions in Baghdad, the coalition said Sunday, raising to six the number of U.S. forces killed in roadside bombs this weekend.
Hundreds of Iraqis, meanwhile, mourned the death of a Shiite politician's relative in a bomb blast in his shop the previous day.
A roadside bomb killed three soldiers from the 1st Armored Division and wounded another during a patrol Saturday night in southeastern Baghdad, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-led coalition spokeswoman said.
That followed a similar attack in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s hometown of Tikrit that killed two American soldiers and wounded three others.
U.S. forces responded by making several arrests and dispatching troops into the streets in a show of force on the same day that the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, took control of the restive Sunni Triangle town in a troop rotation.
Soldiers who have been on the front line facing the anti-U.S. insurgency — believed led by Saddam loyalists and Islamic militants — have been carrying out joint patrols with the newcomers. Saturday was only the second day that troops from the German-based 18th Regiment patrolled alone.
A sixth soldier died at a combat hospital from injuries suffered in a blast in the Iraqi capital Sunday morning, the spokeswoman said.
In Baghdad, about 1,000 mourners attended the funeral on Sunday of Haidar al-Qazwini, the brother-in-law of Shiite council member Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite member of the Iraqi Governing Council.
"The aim of this criminal act is to ignite sectarian strife in the country," al-Jaafari's representative, Adnan al-Asadi, said at the funeral.
U.S. and Iraqi security officials suspect militants are trying to trigger conflict between Sunnis, who dominated Saddam's government, and the resurgent Shiite majority.
Iraqi police said al-Qazwini died after an unidentified man entered a shop and left a bag containing explosives, which later detonated.
The White House said it has sent a senior White House official to Baghdad to help form an interim government — action that's needed before sovereignty can be transferred to the Iraqi people by June 30.
In Baghdad, coalition spokesman Dan Senor identified the official as Ambassador Robert Blackwill of the National Security Council staff, and said he visits Iraq (news - web sites) every four to six weeks.
Blackwill was sent partly to resolve problems some Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council have with the interim constitution the council signed on Monday, a senior administration official said. He also is charged with persuading the Governing Council to let the United Nations (news - web sites) help set up elections, which are scheduled to be held before the end of the year.
The U.S.-led occupation authority also announced that it will shut most border crossings with Iran. But an Iraqi spokesman said the policy ran counter to Iraq's interest and would be reversed after the country gains sovereignty on June 30.
"This is the problem: You have an occupying power that looks after its own interests," said Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi. "Sooner or later we will have our sovereignty and we will want to have long and friendly relations with Iran."
The new border policy was meant to prevent terrorism in Iraq by monitoring and tightening controls on Iranians, and soon, on other states bordering Iraq, starting with Syria, Senor said.
By next Saturday, Iraq will close 16 of its 19 border posts on the country's longest border, the 900-mile frontier with Iran.
Roadside bombs have become the main threat to U.S. soldiers on patrol in the Sunni Triangle, a region north and west of Baghdad that has seen some of the fiercest guerrilla attacks.
The latest deaths brought to 564 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq. Of those, 385 died as a result of hostile action and 179 died of non-hostile causes.
The U.S. military in Iraq is about halfway through the biggest troop rotation in its history, pulling out 130,000 troops — some of whom have been here since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Some 700 troops from the 18th Regiment arrived in Tikrit within the last month to replace a similar number of troops who have been patrolling the city, 85 miles north of Baghdad, since it fell to U.S. forces in April.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040314/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Four American soldiers died in two bomb explosions in Baghdad, the coalition said Sunday, raising to six the number of U.S. forces killed in roadside bombs this weekend.
Hundreds of Iraqis, meanwhile, mourned the death of a Shiite politician's relative in a bomb blast in his shop the previous day.
A roadside bomb killed three soldiers from the 1st Armored Division and wounded another during a patrol Saturday night in southeastern Baghdad, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-led coalition spokeswoman said.
That followed a similar attack in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s hometown of Tikrit that killed two American soldiers and wounded three others.
U.S. forces responded by making several arrests and dispatching troops into the streets in a show of force on the same day that the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, took control of the restive Sunni Triangle town in a troop rotation.
Soldiers who have been on the front line facing the anti-U.S. insurgency — believed led by Saddam loyalists and Islamic militants — have been carrying out joint patrols with the newcomers. Saturday was only the second day that troops from the German-based 18th Regiment patrolled alone.
A sixth soldier died at a combat hospital from injuries suffered in a blast in the Iraqi capital Sunday morning, the spokeswoman said.
In Baghdad, about 1,000 mourners attended the funeral on Sunday of Haidar al-Qazwini, the brother-in-law of Shiite council member Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite member of the Iraqi Governing Council.
"The aim of this criminal act is to ignite sectarian strife in the country," al-Jaafari's representative, Adnan al-Asadi, said at the funeral.
U.S. and Iraqi security officials suspect militants are trying to trigger conflict between Sunnis, who dominated Saddam's government, and the resurgent Shiite majority.
Iraqi police said al-Qazwini died after an unidentified man entered a shop and left a bag containing explosives, which later detonated.
The White House said it has sent a senior White House official to Baghdad to help form an interim government — action that's needed before sovereignty can be transferred to the Iraqi people by June 30.
In Baghdad, coalition spokesman Dan Senor identified the official as Ambassador Robert Blackwill of the National Security Council staff, and said he visits Iraq (news - web sites) every four to six weeks.
Blackwill was sent partly to resolve problems some Shiite members of the Iraqi Governing Council have with the interim constitution the council signed on Monday, a senior administration official said. He also is charged with persuading the Governing Council to let the United Nations (news - web sites) help set up elections, which are scheduled to be held before the end of the year.
The U.S.-led occupation authority also announced that it will shut most border crossings with Iran. But an Iraqi spokesman said the policy ran counter to Iraq's interest and would be reversed after the country gains sovereignty on June 30.
"This is the problem: You have an occupying power that looks after its own interests," said Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi. "Sooner or later we will have our sovereignty and we will want to have long and friendly relations with Iran."
The new border policy was meant to prevent terrorism in Iraq by monitoring and tightening controls on Iranians, and soon, on other states bordering Iraq, starting with Syria, Senor said.
By next Saturday, Iraq will close 16 of its 19 border posts on the country's longest border, the 900-mile frontier with Iran.
Roadside bombs have become the main threat to U.S. soldiers on patrol in the Sunni Triangle, a region north and west of Baghdad that has seen some of the fiercest guerrilla attacks.
The latest deaths brought to 564 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq. Of those, 385 died as a result of hostile action and 179 died of non-hostile causes.
The U.S. military in Iraq is about halfway through the biggest troop rotation in its history, pulling out 130,000 troops — some of whom have been here since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Some 700 troops from the 18th Regiment arrived in Tikrit within the last month to replace a similar number of troops who have been patrolling the city, 85 miles north of Baghdad, since it fell to U.S. forces in April.