U.S. Soldier Killed Guarding Baghdad Bank
The death came a day after two separate attacks on convoys in which one
soldier was killed. It brought to 149 the number of U.S. personnel killed in
combat since the March 20 start of the war — two more than the 1991 Gulf War
(news
- web
sites) total for U.S. deaths in combat.
The soldier guarding the Baghdad bank died at about 2 a.m. outside the
Al-Rasheed Bank in western Baghdad, Corp. Todd Pruden said.
Pruden also announced that a U.S. serviceman was injured Friday when the
convoy he was in was attacked north of Baghdad with small arms fire, rocket
propelled grenades and mortars. Three vehicles in the convoy were damaged in
the attack in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles northwest of the capital, Pruden said.
In another convoy attack Friday, a U.S. soldier was killed when a bomb was
detonated by remote control at a traffic circle near the main bridge over the
Euphrates River in Fallujah, a city west of Baghdad.
The military also announced it had wrapped up two sweeps — dubbed Operation
Ivy Serpant and Operation Soda Mountain earlier in the week. Some 1,210 people
were detained in the two operations, including 112 people suspected of close
ties to the former Saddam Hussein (news
- web
sites) regime.
The operations, which both ended Thursday, netted some 6,000 mortar rounds,
more than 1,400 rocket propelled grenades, explosives, AK-47 assault rifles
and other weapons. None of those captured, however, were among those still at
large from a list of 55 most wanted Iraqis from the former regime.
U.S. authorities have captured 34 people on the list, but not Saddam or his
two sons.
A U.S. intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity said Friday
that a new audio recording purportedly by Saddam urging Iraqis to continue a
"holy war" against U.S. forces is probably authentic and recent — further
evidence Saddam survived the war. The message was aired Thursday, the 35th
anniversary of the coup that brought Saddam's Baath Party to power.
Violence against U.S. troops has been concentrated in Iraq (news
- web
sites)'s "Sunni Triangle," stretching north and west from Baghdad.
At a major Sunni mosque in Baghdad, formerly known as the Mother of all
Battles Mosque, preacher Khalid al-Dari called Friday for the Americans to
leave Iraq and said the new U.S.-appointed government "will enshrine Iraq's
sectarian differences."
Iraq's minority Sunni Muslims have long ruled the country, and many of them
fear Saddam's ouster will swing the balance of power to majority Shiites. The
new 25-member ruling council, appointed by the Americans, has a slim Shiite
majority.
But imams at some Shiite mosques also had harsh words for the Americans.
Muqtada al-Sadr, addressing thousands of Shiites at a mosque in the central
holy city of Kufa, vowed to establish a council "of the righteous" that would
rival the new government.
Al-Sadr said the government is comprised of "nonbelievers" who don't
represent the people.
"We will not cooperate with the council," he told the crowd. "We will form
our own council. Iraq will then have two councils: one of the wrongdoers and
one of the righteous."
"Zionists!" the crowd chanted. "Zionist council!"
In an interview later with The Associated Press, al-Sadr said he would
launch a parallel government and draft a constitution in consultation with all
the country's Islamic movements.
"Eventually, we'll have a referendum separate from the Americans and, God
willing, elections separate from the Americans," he said.
