Today in Iraq

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Thursday December 11, 2003 04:03 by Matt D.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Dec. 10) - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded in separate attacks Wednesday in the northern city of Mosul, the military said. American troops in another northern city arrested five Iraqi policemen and 24 others suspected of ties to insurgents

Today in Iraq:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Dec. 10) - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four wounded in separate attacks Wednesday in the northern city of Mosul, the military said. American troops in another northern city arrested five Iraqi policemen and 24 others suspected of ties to insurgents.

Also Wednesday, the military said the emergency landing of a U.S. helicopter near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, was likely the result of ground fire by insurgents.
In the Mosul attacks, guerrillas fired on soldiers guarding a gasoline station, killing one and injuring another, said a spokesman for the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.
A few hours later, guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb and opened fire on a U.S. military convoy, killing one soldier and wounding three others, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
At the gas station, U.S. soldiers returned fire and killed one assailant, the spokesman said. But witnesses said the attackers escaped, and that U.S. troops opened fire on passing cars, killing a driver.
Witnesses identified the driver as a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, a major pro-American political party. The PUK's Mosul headquarters is across the street from the gas station.

An Associated Press reporter saw blood stains at the spot where witnesses said the soldiers had stood, and a bullet-riddled and bloodstained car said to belong to the PUK member.
Early Wednesday, U.S. troops and Iraqi police in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk arrested 29 people, including five policemen, who were suspected of ties to the former regime of Saddam Hussein, said Adnan Mohammed Saleh, a city police officer. Saleh said the policemen were suspected of passing intelligence to anti-occupation rebels.

Also later in the day:

Guerrillas hit a U.S. Air Force transport plane with a surface-to-air missile, causing the engine to explode, a senior Pentagon source said Wednesday. The plane landed safely.

and

A US attack helicopter (not the same as the first) was engulfed by fire after it made a "controlled landing" near the city of Mosul in northern Iraq today, a military spokesman said.

Just another day on the golden sands of Iraq. Don’t you wish you were there? Peace, Matt D.