A blistering series of attacks, coming nearly hourly, left seven US soldiers wounded in and around the Iraqi capital while the US-led authority in charge of the country announced a US$2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone who kills a coalition soldier or Iraqi police officer.
A US soldier attached to the 101st Airborne Division was killed in what the military said was a non-combat gunshot wound near Balad, 90km north of the capital, the military said yesterday. The soldier's name was withheld pending notification of next-of-kin, and no further details were available.
US defense officials, meanwhile, raised their count of Americans killed by hostile fire in Iraq since the war began in March to 143, a figure that approaches the 147 killed in the 1991 Gulf War.
PHOTO: AFP
The reward is an effort to stem a spiraling insurgency that has plagued coalition efforts to bring security and basic services to Iraq. Last week, the US-led authority that runs Iraq announced a US$25 million bounty on the head of Saddam Hussein, and a US$15 million reward for the capture of each of his two sons.
`"I urge the Iraqi people to come forward to take these people off the streets of the country," said Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police official who is helping to rebuild Iraq's force.
He also said US forces and Iraqi police had arrested Sabah Mirza, a former Saddam bodyguard, on June 26.
Mirza was Saddam's bodyguard in the 1980s before being fired over a dispute. His current connection to the former Iraqi dictator was not clear, but a raid on Mirza's farm netted plastic explosives, mortars, a machine gun and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
On Tuesday, US soldiers raided a building in central Baghdad, following up on a claim by residents that say they thought they saw Saddam driving through the area on Monday, and say the ousted leader was met with cheering and gunfire by supporters.
Several pro-Saddam residents chanted pro-Saddam slogans on Tuesday as the US servicemen conducted their sweep, with some singing: "With our souls and our blood we sacrifice ourselves for you Saddam."
The last reported sighting of Saddam was April 9 in the Azamiyah neighborhood of northeastern Baghdad as the capital fell to US troops.
L. Paul Bremer, the top US official in Iraq, said the coalition would not rest until Saddam's fate was determined and reassured Iraqis that he would never again rule their country.
"He may be alive, but he is not coming back," Bremer said. "I think the noose is going to tighten around his neck. His days in Iraq are finished."
Tuesday brought fresh attacks in what has become a bloody and uncertain peace for coalition forces.
Insurgents dropped a homemade bomb from a bridge onto a passing US military convoy in Baghdad, injuring two soldiers. Another two soldiers were injured when their vehicle struck a land mine in the capital, said Sergeant Patrick Compton, a US military spokesman.
In Kirkuk, 280km north of Baghdad, assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a military convoy, injuring three servicemen. The patrol returned fire, but there was no word of Iraqi casualties or arrests.
In other violence, witnesses said three Iraqis -- including a 13-year-old boy -- were killed following a grenade attack on a police station in a Baghdad suburb. Witnesses told Associated Press Television News that those killed when soldiers returned fire were not among those who attacked the police station.
Late Monday, insurgents fired mortars at a base near Balad, 89km north of the capital, the military said. US forces subsequently caught 12 of the suspected attackers.
Since US President George W. Bush declared major combat operations had ended on May 1, 29 US troops have been killed by hostile fire and 44 others have died in accidents and other non-hostile circumstances, a total of 73.
The total number of Americans who have died in Iraq since the conflict began March 20 stands at 212, including the death Monday in Balad.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other