Iraqi resistance fighters hit a U.S. base in central Iraq with mortar shells, killing one American soldier and injuring two others, a U.S. military spokesman said Saturday. Two other troops were killed in a separate bomb attack.
The mortars landed at a base of the US Army's 4th Infantry Division near Balad, some 80 kilometers northwest of Baghdad on Friday night, Sgt. Robert Cargie said, according to The AP.
One of the shells went off near a trailer used as a bedroom by troops, and a soldier standing in its doorway was killed. Two other troops were wounded by shrapnel and taken to a combat support hospital, where they were in stable condition, Cargie added.
In a separate incident Friday, two U.S. servicemen on patrol south of Baghdad were killed by a homemade bomb, a military spokesman said. Three others were injured in the blast and evacuated to a hospital.
Overnight, the U.S. military bombed targets in the southern edge of Baghdad from where resistance fighters believed to be launching mortar shells and rockets. In Baghdad, a US military spokesman said the shelling of the Doura neighborhood was part of an offensive dubbed Operation Iron Grip. Residents said it appeared U.S. fire was targeting fields in the neighborhood.
Elsewhere, occupation forces raiding a Sunni Muslim mosque arrested 32 non-Iraqi Arabs and seized an arms cache. Hundreds of Iraqis protested outside the mosque after the raid. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
