Bombs Kill 8 U.S. Troops in Iraq
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bombs Kill 8 U.S. Troops in Iraq
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Sunday May 6, 2007 11:01 PM
By ROBERT H. REID
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) - Roadside bombs killed eight American soldiers in separate
attacks Sunday in Diyala province and Baghdad, and a car bomb claimed 30
more lives in a wholesale food market in a part of the Iraqi capital
where sectarian tensions are on the rise.
In all, at least 95 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide Sunday,
police reported. They included 12 policemen in Samarra, among them the
city's police chief, who died when Sunni insurgents launched a suicide
car bombing and other attacks on police headquarters.
The deadliest attack against U.S. forces occurred in Diyala, where six
U.S. soldiers and a European journalist were killed when a massive bomb
destroyed their vehicle, the U.S. military said. Two U.S. soldiers were
wounded, the military said.
Two other American soldiers died Sunday in separate bombings in Baghdad.
The military Sunday also reported three other deaths - two Marines in a
blast Sunday in Anbar province and a soldier who died Sunday in a
non-combat incident in northern Iraq.
Those deaths raised to at least 3,373 the number of U.S. military
members who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003,
according to an Associated Press count.
The market bombing occurred about noon in the Baiyaa district of western
Baghdad, shattering vehicles, ripping roofs off nearby buildings and
collapsing storefronts. Police said about 80 people were injured in
addition to the 30 dead.
Following the horrific blast, blood pooled on the dirt streets. Hospital
officials said two pickup trucks filled with body parts were brought to
the morgue.
``I was waiting near a shop to lift some boxes, when I saw the owner of
the shop collapse,'' said Sattar Hussein, 22, who works in the market.
``I helped him inside the shop, but he was already dead. The next thing
I felt was pain in my left shoulder and some people rushing me to the
hospital.''
Ali Hamid, 25, who owns a shop in the market, said he was selling soft
drinks when the blast knocked him unconscious.
``The next thing I remember is some people putting me in a pickup with
two dead bodies and rushing me to the hospital,'' he said. He called the
attack ``a terrorist act aimed at creating more sectarian tension and
strife.''
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which followed
allegations by Sunni politicians that Shiite militias have resumed their
campaign to expel Sunnis from Baiyaa.
Most of the shops in the market were believed owned by Shiites.
That raised speculation that the bombing was carried out by Sunni
hard-liners in reprisal for the alleged expulsions, which were believed
to have slowed across the capital since the start of the Baghdad
security crackdown Feb. 14.
The attacks in Samarra, a Sunni city 60 miles north of Baghdad, began
when a suicide car bomber struck the police headquarters. Following the
blast, dozens of insurgents - some wearing masks and wielding video
cameras - opened fire on the building and at least one police
checkpoint, witnesses said.
U.S. paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division came under small arms
and rocket-propelled grenade fire when they rushed to the scene, the
U.S. military said. Two Americans were wounded and a vehicle was damaged.
The police chief, Col. Jalil Nahi Hassoun, and 11 other policemen were
killed, officials said.
Samarra was the scene of the Feb. 22, 2006, bombing that destroyed a
major Shiite shrine and triggered the wave of Sunni-Shiite reprisal
attacks that has plunged this country into civil conflict. U.S. and
Iraqi officials blame that bombing on al-Qaida, which has been active in
the city for years.
As the violence raged, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio,
warned on ``Fox News Sunday'' that Republican support could waver if
President Bush's Iraq war policy does not succeed by the fall.
``By the time we get to September or October, members are going to want
to know how well this is working, and if it isn't, what's Plan B?''
Boehner said.
But in Baghdad, an American general warned of more casualties to come as
the U.S. steps up its campaign to restore stability to Baghdad and
surrounding areas.
``In the next 90 days we're going to see increased American casualties
because we're taking the fight to the enemy,'' Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch,
commander of U.S. troops south of Baghdad, told reporters.
Lynch predicted that U.S. operations would produce a ``decisive effect
on enemy formations'' by September, but the task of building stable
Iraqi political institutions and security capabilities will take much
longer.
However, Iraq's religiously and ethnically based political parties show
little sign that they are narrowing their differences.
On Sunday, a top leader of the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament
complained bitterly that Sunni Cabinet members are being given no real
powers in the Shiite-dominated government.
Adnan al-Dulaimi also charged that the 11-week-old Baghdad security
crackdown was victimizing Sunnis in the city.
``Our participation in this so-called national unity government is weak
and marginalized and our ministers have no authority to serve Iraq or
its people,'' al-Dulaimi told reporters.
He also complained that Shiite militias and death squads have resumed
kidnapping and killing Sunnis.
``We wish the government every success with the security plan but not at
the expense of the Sunnis,'' al-Dulaimi said. ``We call on the
government to strike with an iron fist the death squads, the militias
and the military commanders who attack our Sunni areas under the cover
of the security plan.''
Last week, Iraq's Arab neighbors made clear during a regional conference
in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik that the Shiite-dominated
government must reach out to the Sunnis if it expects substantial
economic help to rebuild the country.
The chief spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the
government was aware of renewed sectarian cleansing but blamed it on
criminal gangs that want to ``create the impression'' of a city torn by
religious strife.
``These are among the challenges the Iraqi government faces,'' the
spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, told reporters.
U.S. officials have insisted that the security crackdown is not directed
at any religious or ethnic group.
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said U.S. and Iraqi forces raided the Shiite
district of Sadr City early Sunday, uncovering a weapons cache, a
torture room and killing at least eight militants.
``Intelligence reports indicate that the secret cell had ties to a
kidnapping network that conducts attacks within Iraq as well as
interactions with rogue elements throughout Iraq and into Iran,'' he said.