| Author |
Message |
Puck
The Texan
Joined: 05 Jan 2004
Posts: 5596
|
 Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:59 pm Terrorists Kill 50 Unarmed Iraqi GIs in Ambush |
|
| Quote: |
Terrorists Kill 50 Unarmed Iraqi GIs in Ambush
Sunday, October 24, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq � In one of their boldest and most brutal attacks yet, insurgents waylaid three minibuses carrying U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers heading home on leave and massacred about 50 of them � many of them shot in the head execution-style, officials said Sunday.
The killing of so many Iraqi soldiers � unarmed and in civilian clothes � in such an apparently sure-footed operation reinforced American and Iraqi suspicions that the country's security services have been infiltrated by insurgents.
Elsewhere, a U.S. diplomat was killed Sunday morning when a rebel-fired rocket or mortar shell crashed into the trailer where he was sleeping at an American base near the Baghdad (search) airport, the U.S. Embassy announced.
Edward Seitz (search), an agent with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, was believed to be the first U.S. diplomat killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.
The unarmed Iraqi soldiers were killed on their way home after completing a training course at the Kirkush military camp northeast of Baghdad when their buses were stopped Saturday evening by rebels near the Iranian border about 95 miles east of Baghdad, Interior Ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman said.
Some accounts by police said the rebels were dressed in Iraqi military uniforms.
There was confusion over precise figures, although the Iraqi National Guard said 48 troops and three drivers were killed.
Abdul-Rahman said 37 bodies were found Sunday on the ground with their hands behind their backs, shot in the head execution-style. Twelve others were found in a burned bus, he said. Some officials quoted witnesses as saying insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at one bus.
"After inspection, we found out that they were shot after being ordered to lay down on the earth," Gen. Walid al-Azzawi, commander of the Diyala provincial police, said, adding that the bodies were laid out in four rows, with 12 bodies in each row.
Meanwhile, a U.S. Marine F-18 Hornet jet struck an insurgent position Sunday in Fallujah, the U.S. military said. Witnesses said six people were killed.
Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, is among the centers of the Sunni insurgency, and U.S. commanders have spoken of a new offensive to clear rebel strongholds ahead of Iraq's crucial elections in January.
Two Bulgarian soldiers were wounded Sunday in a car bombing in Karbala, the Bulgarian Defense Ministry said. Karbala, a Shiite city south of Baghdad, has been quiet for months.
Iraqi police and soldiers have been increasingly targeted by insurgents, mostly with car bombs and mortar shells. However, the fact that the insurgents were able to strike at so many unarmed soldiers in such a remote region suggested the guerrillas may have had advance word on the soldiers' travel.
"There was probably collusion among the soldiers or other groups," Diyala's deputy Gov. Aqil Hamid al-Adili told Al-Arabiya television. "Otherwise, the gunmen would not have gotten the information about the soldiers' departure from their training camp and that they were unarmed."
Last week, a U.S. defense official told reporters in Washington that some members of the Iraqi security services have developed sympathies and contacts with the guerrillas. In other instances, infiltrators were sent to join the security services, the official said on condition of anonymity.
He cited a mortar attack Tuesday on an Iraqi National Guard compound north of Baghdad as a possible inside job. The attackers apparently knew when and where the soldiers were gathering and dropped mortar rounds in the middle of their formation. At least four Iraqis were killed and 80 wounded.
The extent of rebel infiltration is unknown. However, it raises concern about the American strategy of handing over more and more responsibility to Iraqi security forces so U.S. forces could be drawn down.
One American soldier also was wounded in the pre-dawn attack that killed Seitz, the State Department official. The attack occurred at Camp Victory, the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition's ground forces command.
Seitz was believed to be the first full-time State Department officer killed in Iraq. Last October, a female U.S. Foreign Service officer was severely wounded in the arm in a rocket barrage on the Rasheed Hotel.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, was in the hotel at the time but escaped injury.
In Beijing, Secretary of State Colin Powell described Seitz as "a brave American, dedicated to his country and to a brighter future for the people of Iraq."
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said Seitz was a "committed professional" who served with distinction.
"He came to Iraq, as did his fellow Americans here, to help the Iraqis defeat terrorism and the insurgency, establish democracy, and rebuild their economy," Negroponte said.
Elsewhere, insurgents attacked Iraq security patrols three times late Saturday in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, wounding two Iraqi soldiers, the U.S. military said.
Last month, U.S. and Iraqi forces recaptured Samarra from insurgents but have faced car bombings and scattered attacks ever since.
Militants also targeted Iraq National Guard forces near Baqouba, wounding seven in bomb attacks that began Saturday, officials said. Three guardsmen and their driver were wounded Sunday while three others were injured Saturday.
In Karbala, Muslim al-Taie, an aide to senior Shiite cleric Hussein al-Sadr, was killed in a drive-by shooting. One of al-Taie's bodyguards also was killed and another was injured, a Karbala city council official said.
SEARCH
Advertise on FOX News Channel, FOXNews.com and FOX News Radio
Jobs at FOX News Channel.
Internships at FOX News Channel (Applications are now being accepted for Fall internships).
Terms of use. Privacy Statement. For FOXNews.com comments write to
[email protected]; For FOX News Channel comments write to
[email protected]
� Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright � 2004 ComStock, Inc.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2004 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved.
All market data delayed 20 minutes. |
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
Star Trek �, in all its various forms, are trademarks & copyrights of Paramount Pictures
This site has no official connection with Star Trek or Paramount Pictures
Site content/Site design elements owned by Morphy and is meant to only be an archive/Tribute to STV.com
|
Search
FAQ
Log in
