IRAQ: U.S. TROOPS DETAIN FORMER IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE COLONEL ARKAN SALEM/ MOURNERS ATTEND FUNERAL OF A BAGHDAD MAYOR ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY U.S. TROOPS

Record ID: 402169

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S. TROOPS DETAIN FORMER IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE COLONEL ARKAN SALEM/ MOURNERS ATTEND FUNERAL OF A BAGHDAD MAYOR ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY U.S. TROOPS
  • Date: 10th November 2003
  • Summary: (W5) KHALIS, NEAR BAQOUBA, 70 KM NORTHEAST OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 10, 2003) (REUTERS) (NIGHT TIME VIEWS) 1. U.S. HUMVEE GOING THROUGH A GATE OF SUSPECT ARKAN SALEM'S HOUSE 0.11 (EXTERIOR SHOTS ARE NIGHT VISION VIEWS) 2. U.S. SOLDIERS ENTERING THE HOUSE 0.28 3. SOLDIERS BODY-SEARCHING SUSPECT ARKAN SALEM 0.42 4. SCU: S
  • Embargoed: 25th November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KHALIS, NEAR BAQUOUBA AND BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAA6PYZ7W9KHVA1H7WSS1OPYNUP
  • Story Text: U.S. troops say they have caught the mastermind
    behind anti-U.S. guerrilla attacks while mourners at the
    funeral of a Baghdad mayor blame his death on the U.S.


    U.S. soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division with
    night-vision goggles, raided and searched suspected
    locations in Khalis, 30 km west of Baqouba, arresting two
    men early on Monday (November 10).

    U.S. troops detained Arkan Salem, a former colonel in
    Iraq's intelligence Service, whom they blame for organising
    resistance in the northern region of the country.

    U.S. soldiers searched Salem's house and confiscated
    documents they found there.

    Another suspect, believed to be Salem's partner in
    planning the attacks, was also detained.

    Baqouba is a hot spot of resistance to U.S. troops. The
    area is dominated by Sunni Muslims, the community from
    which ousted leader Saddam Hussein drew most of his support.

    U.S. forces in central Iraq have been plagued by sneak
    attacks on their positions and patrols. Since U.S.

    President George Bush declared major combat over in Iraq,
    151 soldiers have been killed in hostile fire in Iraq.

    During the main six-week U.S. offensive in March and April
    114 soldiers were killed.

    Hundreds of Iraqis accompanied the coffin of the mayor
    of the vast Sadr City district of Baghdad and accused U.S.

    soldiers of killing him on Sunday (November 9).

    The U.S. military said a soldier had shot a man outside
    the district council building on Sunday after he fought
    with another soldier and tried to grab his gun. The man
    died later from his wounds, the military said. It declined
    to name him.

    At the funeral procession, women dressed in black beat
    their chests in a traditional Muslim mourning ritual and
    men carried banners declaring mayor Muhanad Ghazi al-Kabi
    had been "killed by American bullets" and condemning U.S.

    soldiers allegedly involved.

    Men bore Kabi's coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag,
    through the streets of Sadr City, a poor mainly Shi'ite
    area made up largely of slums that is home to more than two
    million people.

    Kabi was the head of a U.S.-backed interim council for
    Sadr City.

    The U.S. military said a man had tried to drive into
    the council compound on Sunday and been stopped by soldiers
    guarding it. He became involved in a fight with one soldier
    while another soldier fired warning shots.

    "The driver continued to fight and wrestled the soldier
    to the ground while still attempting to pull the weapon
    from the soldier," a military statement said.

    "The other soldier shot the driver in the upper leg.

    The driver was evacuated to a nearby military hospital
    where he died of his wounds. The incident is under
    investigation."

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