- Title: IRAQ: TWO IRAQIS SHOT WHILE ATTEMPTING TO ATTACK U.S. SOLDIERS IN BAKUBA.
- Date: 28th June 2003
- Summary: (W4) BAKUBA, 60 KM NORTHEAST OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 28, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. GV: U.S. SOLDIERS PATROLLING STREETS OF BAKUBA IN ARMOURED HUMVEES WITH MOUNTED MACHINE GUNS AFTER FRIDAY NIGHT ATTACK, WHICH INJURED TWO IRAQI CIVILIANS (2 SHOTS) 0.39 2. LV/PAN: U.S. HELICOPTER FLYING OVERHEAD 0.47 3. GV/PAN; FOOT PATROL 0.56 4. CU: ROAD
- Embargoed: 13th July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAKUBA, 60 KM NORTHEAST OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA4GJXLP9H6UN3FNM97UHXL6BK9
- Story Text: An attempted attack against U.S. soldiers late on
Friday has injured two Iraqi civilians in the town of Bakuba,
60 kilometres (37 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
In a separate incident, one U.S. soldier was killed and
four others wounded four hurt in a grenade attack overnight in
Baghdad.
Hundreds of U.S. troops patrolled the streets of Bakuba
on Saturday (June 28) after an attempted attack on U.S.
soldiers, in which two Iraqi civilians were wounded.
The explosion happened late on Friday (June 27) in Bakuba,
60km (37 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
It is unclear what caused the explosion -- possibly a
grenade.
Three U.S. military jeeps were parked by the roadside when
the attack happened. Two Iraqi civilians were wounded.
Eyewitnesses said some U.S. troops were also wounded in the
attack.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.
Eyewitness Saed Khalaf said there was a large explosion.
"There was a huge explosion. We were hit by debris. Thank
God I was not hurt. U.S. troops came up to me with their
weapons and said they will take me away (for treatment). I
said I was fine. But here, there were two wounded Iraqis, one
called Amed and the other called Hatem. They were hurt,"
Khaled said.
Amed Abdulla Karim was injured in the attack, and is now
receiving care at the main city hospital.
"I was in the market with my brother. We heard an
explosion and the next thing, I found myself here. That is all
I remember," he said.
In a separate incident, one U.S. soldier was killed and
four others wounded in an attack in Baghdad overnight, raising
to 22 the number of Americans killed by hostile fire in Iraq
since the end of the war.
The latest violence occurred just after 11 p.m. (1900 GMT)
on Friday (June 27), when a U.S. convoy came under grenade
attack in the predominantly Shi'ite neighbourhood of Thawra of
northeast Baghdad -- until recently was known as Saddam City.
One American soldier was killed and four were wounded. A
civilian Iraqi interpreter was also hurt.
The soldiers were from First Armoured Division.
Attacks on the occupation forces have continued unabated
in recent days, underscoring the hazards of occupying a
country the size of California with a heavily armed population
that had been under Saddam Hussein's rule since 1979.
Earlier on Friday another U.S. soldier was shot in the
head and critically wounded while shopping in Baghdad.
American officials in Iraq have called the attacks
"militarily insignificant" because they do not reduce the
capacity of the 156,000 American troops in the country, of
which 53,000 are in Baghdad alone.
They also blame the resistance on die-hard loyalists of
Saddam, whose government was toppled with the April 9 fall of
Baghdad to the U.S.-led forces.
Back then U.S. officials expressed some surprise at how
the Iraqi army resistance disappeared when the invading forces
closed in on the capital. At the time they worried that Saddam
loyalists may simply have fled to fight another day.
The resistance could also be coming from militias of the
former ruling Baath Party. Grenade launchers and AK-47 assault
rifles are a fairly common accessory in some Iraqi homes.
Six British troops were shot dead on Tuesday in southern
Iraq, but townspeople told Reuters it was a relatively
spontaneous retaliation for what they considered an intrusive
and culturally offensive weapons search by the British troops.
U.S. President George W. Bush declared major combat over
in Iraq on May 1.
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