A crowd of cheering Iraqis dragged the charred and mutilated bodies of four contractors working for the US-led coalition, including a woman and one American man, through the streets of Falluja yesterday after they died in an ambush.
In separate attacks, five American soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb was detonated beside their convoy west of Baghdad and three British soldiers were wounded by the explosion of a roadside bomb near the southern port city of Basra.
A suicide bomber also detonated his car in Baquba, about 40km north of Baghdad, killing himself and wounding 14 other people.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Falluja violence began when two four-wheel-drive vehicles were attacked by guerrillas on a main road in the town, 50km west of Baghdad. A crowd then set the vehicles ablaze and hurled stones into the burning wreckage.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US army in Iraq, said all four contractors in the vehicles were killed. He did not give their nationalities.
Television pictures showed one incinerated body being kicked and stamped on by a member of the jubilant crowd, while others dragged a blackened body down the road by its feet. TV footage showed one American passport near a body and a US Department of Defense identification card belonging to another man.
As one body lay burning on the ground, an Iraqi came and doused it with gasoline, sending flames soaring.
At least two bodies were tied to cars and pulled through the streets, witnesses said.
"This is the fate of all Americans who come to Falluja," said Mohammad Nafik, one of the crowd surrounding the bodies.
Some body parts were pulled off and left hanging from a telephone cable, while two incinerated bodies were later strung from a bridge and left dangling there.
As the victims lay burning, a crowd of around 150 men chanted "Long live Islam" and Allahu Akbar ("God is Greatest") while flashing victory signs.
No US soldiers or Iraqi police were seen in the area for hours after the attack, but a US fighter plane screamed overhead, prompting the crowd to scatter.
Falluja has been one of the most violent, restive towns in Iraq since the US-led occupation began. There are almost daily attacks on US military convoys in the area.
With less than 100 days to go before US authorities hand over sovereignty to an Iraqi government, the US military, Iraqi police and other local security forces are still battling to bring security to the country.
Also See Story:
Iraqi authority looks abroad for public relations assistance
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
RSS