- Title: IRAQ: FURTHER ATTACKS ON US CONVOY AND IRAQI POLICEMAN KILLED IN RAMADI
- Date: 30th September 2003
- Summary: (W4)KHALDIYA, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 30, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF AFTERMATH OF LANDMINE/RPG ATTACK ON A U.S. CONVOY, DAMAGED TANK VIEWED FROM KHALDIYA BRIDGE 0.02 2. TRACKING SHOT OF TANK CONVOY 0.16 2. WIDE OF DAMAGED U.S TANK 0.22 3. TRACKING SHOT OF TANK BEING TOWED AWAY 0.30 4. LONG SHOT OF DAMAGED TANK BEING TO
- Embargoed: 15th October 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KHALDIYA/RAMADI/MOSUL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA3KWV3QOV82ZNL2R13BJ2IF4FM
- Story Text: The unstable security situation in Iraq continues
amidst a number of new attacks and incidents around the
country Tuesday
The unstable security situation in Iraq continued
Tuesday (September 30) with a number of attacks around the
country.
In Khaldiya, west of Baghdad, a U.S. convoy was
attacked. Initial reports say a tank was blown up by a a
landmine or an improvised explosive device (IED). An
unconfirmed eyewitness account said attackers also fired a
rocket-propelled grenade, followed by shooting.
The U.S. military has not provided any further
information on the attack. Khaldiya lies in the so-called
"Sunni triangle", a broad swath of Iraq north and west of
Baghdad where support for Saddam Hussein remains strong and
guerrilla warfare against the American occupation is
heaviest.
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, an Iraqi policemen was
accidentally shot dead by U.S. soldiers. Details of the
incident are still sketchy. Witnesses say U.S. soldiers
accidentally killed an iraqi policeman in Ramadi as he
tried to apprehend a civilian who was shooting in the air
on Tuesday night.
According to initial reports, the policeman was trying
to calm down the situation when a U.S. soldier thinking
they were under fire started returning fire. One policeman
was killed, and four others are said to have been injured
and taken to a military hospital.
An eyewitness Issam Hamer described the attack: "The
policemen came from this direction and then struggled with
them. Then the US soldiers arrived, stopped their vehicles
and started shooting at the two men and the policemen and
also at the houses around"
A nearby U.S. base came under mortar attack later in
the day.
Coalition spokesman Lieutenant Colonel George Krivo
said he was not clear if the Iraqis involved in the
incident were civilian or police.
"I can confirm that an incident happened last night
around midnight in Ramadi and it involved coalition forces.
We are not sure at the
moment whether or not it was Iraqi police or Iraqi
civilians. There are two differing stories at to what
occurred and the commander on the ground has initiated a
formal investigation. We'll have to see what the outcome of
this investigation are before we make any formal
statements."
Lieutenant Krivo also described events which took place
the previous day in Habaniya and Khaldiya when US tanks and
helicopters fought Iraqi resistance fighters for more than
eight hours in intense clashes after a roadside bomb killed
one U.S. soldier and wounded three other servicemen.
" I would point out that there really were 3
incidents. The first is the IED attack on the convoy. The
second is the isolation and assault on the first house
where the unit followed the people from an IED attack,
isolated it and assaulted and the third engagement was two
people got away from that house and the OH58 came in and
came in and ran into the 20 people that fired the small
arms and then there was an other engagement so actually you
can say there was one or three but you can say it was a
continuous engagement
and we are counting it as one," Krivo said.
About 150 soldiers opened fire from M1A1 Abrams tanks
and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters in response to ambushes by
assailants firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.
By sundown, the gun battles had destroyed two
buildings the assailants used as cover for the attacks. An
unknown number of Iraqis were dead and 14 were in custody.
Krivo said the use of IEDs and weapons were becoming
more sophisticated and that the level of expertise, in the
average attacker, was higher than before.
U.S. troops stationed in the Mosul Hotel in Iraq have
come under rocket-propelled grenade attack. This time, they
were lucky, as the RPG did not explode.
U.S. troops are currently living at the Mosul hotel,
which has been the target of repeated attacks from RPGs and
machine gun fire.
The hotel has been attacked eight times since April,
and there were four attacks in past three weeks. The hotel
was hit 3 times since April.
This time, U.S. ordnance disposal teams and technicians
working for the MAG non-governmental organisation defused
the RPG, which was found unexploded near the hotel.
.
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