IRAQ: TWO UNITED STATES SERVICEMEN HAVE BEEN KILLED AND THREE WOUNDED IN TWO SEPARATE ATTACKS

Record ID: 338018

  • Title: IRAQ: TWO UNITED STATES SERVICEMEN HAVE BEEN KILLED AND THREE WOUNDED IN TWO SEPARATE ATTACKS
  • Date: 17th July 2003
  • Summary: (W4) AL-SAYDIYA, 15 KM SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 16, 2003)(REUTERS) 1. SLV DAMAGED U.S HUMVEE; SLV U.S SOLDIERS IN AREA (7 SHOTS) 0.36 (U3) ABU GHRAIB, 25 KM WEST OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 16, 2003)(REUTERS) 2. SLV STATIONARY U.S. MILITARY VEHICLES ON ROAD; AV HELICOPTER FLYING OVER 0.45 (U2) ABU GHRAIB 20 KM WEST OF BAGHDAD, IRA
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL-SAYDIYA, ABU GHRAIB, BASRA AND BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA8DRN2TXCT9UOSNFKWJGB8W5GI
  • Story Text: Two U.S. serviceman have been killed and three wounded
    in two separate attacks in Iraq.

    Two looters who stole a car after killing its owner have
    been caught by Iraqi police and taken into custody in Basra.

    Another U.S soldier was killed and two more wounded
    when a landmine exploded under a U.S military vehicle on a
    road heading to the airport. This was a second attack on U.S.

    troops today (July 16, 2003).

    The blast badly damaged the vehicle as it drove on a road
    leading to Baghdad airport.

    The attack came only a few hours after another U.S.

    soldier was killed and two others were wounded when a bomb
    exploded as a convoy passed on Highway One, near Abu Ghraib,
    25 km (16 miles) west of Baghdad.

    The body of the dead soldier lay on Highway One covered
    with a yellow sheet. Helicopters hovered above and U.S.

    soldiers stood guard, pointing their machine-guns towards the
    edge of the road and peering through binoculars for other
    possible attackers.

    The two men wounded on Highway One were treated on the
    highway itself. U.S. soldiers stood guard, pointing their
    machine-guns towards the edge of the road and peering through
    binoculars for other possible attackers.

    The blasts are the latest in a spate of increasingly bold
    guerrilla-style attacks. U.S. forces have come under daily
    attacks in recent weeks which have continued despite a
    crackdown by U.S. troops in areas to the northeast and north
    of the capital, once a hotbed for Saddam loyalists.

    The fatalities brought to 148 the number of U.S.

    servicemen killed by hostile fire in Iraqi since the invasion
    to topple president Saddam Hussein -- the same number of
    troops the United States lost in the 1991 Gulf war over
    Kuwait. At least 33 U.S soldiers have been killed since
    President Bush declared major combat over.

    U.S. army officer Major William Thurmond, speaking in
    Baghdad, said, "At 09:50 today a 3rd core-support command
    convoy travelling on Highway One, north of Baghdad was
    attacked. The attackers used small arms fire and rocket
    propelled grenades. The convoy did sustain some casualties.

    The nature and number of those casualties we are still not
    sure of."
    U.S. administrator Paul Bremer said Washington and London
    would pull out their forces from Iraq once the coalition's
    mission was accomplished.

    In a bid to prepare the ground to punish members of
    Saddam's government, Iraq's new U.S.-backed Governing Council
    agreed to set up a war crimes tribunal. Thirty-four people on
    a U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis are either dead or in the
    hands of U.S. and British forces.

    A delegation from the Governing Council will visit U.N.

    headquarters in New York next week and hopes to address the
    Security Council, U.N. officials said. The council will also
    lobby for a seat in the U.N. General Assembly.

    As U.S forces try to crush growing armed resistance, the
    military said troops had conducted 53 raids across Iraq,
    detaining 316 people and confiscating arms, ammunition and
    explosives in Operation Soda Mountain launched on Saturday
    (July 12). Another operation, Ivy Serpent also launched on
    Saturday was focused on an area to the north of Baghdad,
    around the towns of Samarra and Baiji.

    The U.S. Defense Department said military expenses for the
    Iraq war and its aftermath have cost the United States 48
    billion U.S. dollar (USD) to date, with a monthly price tag
    over the next couple of months estimated at more than 3.9
    billion USD.

    Later in the day two armed robbers were apprehended by
    Iraqi police after they had stolen a car, killing the driver.

    Iraqi police gave chase as the two men drove off and they
    crashed into a tree. The two were injured in the crash and
    were taken into custody by the police.

    Looting has been rampant in Iraq since the fall of
    President Saddam Hussein in April.

    Despite the establishment of the interim Iraqi Governing
    Council, law and order are still absent and instability is
    still prevailing most parts of the country.

    The interim Iraqi Governing Council held on Sunday (July
    13) a first official meeting grouping 25 Iraqi key figures
    including three women.


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