Devildogg4ever
07-20-03, 03:37 AM
Two American soldiers were killed and another wounded early Sunday when their convoy came under rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.
All three soldiers were rushed to a nearby military hospital, where two of them died, said Corp. Todd Pruden, a spokesman for the military in Baghdad, AP reported.
The attack took place near Tal Afar, just west of the northern city of Mosul, Pruden said.
Elsewhere, American troops have surrounded since Saturday the Najaf home of a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric, Moqtada Sadr, who criticized on Friday the US-led occupation and the new Governing Council set up under its auspices, his spokesman said.
Troops and three armoured vehicles ringed the house, while a helicopter buzzed overhead before afternoon prayers but left after a few hours, Mustafa Yaccoubi told AFP.
Sadr was not at home but the US action triggered angry demonstrations around the city, located 180 kilometers south of Baghdad.
Sadr blasted the Governing Council in his first comments since it was unveiled last Sunday and denounced its brand of power-sharing among the country's ethnic and confessional groups.
Sadr also announced the formation of a private militia called the "Mehdi army" and demanded the shutting down of US-sponsored television and radio stations. Recruitment for the "Mehdi army" started Saturday in Baghdad's Shiite suburb of Sadr City.
Thousands of Iraqi Shiites shouted anti-US slogans in the heart of the Iraqi capital Saturday night. The protestors, about 3,000, yelled "We are soldiers of Sadr."
Meanwhile, a new report by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging the US to speed up the handover of power to the Iraqi people and bring back security and basic services. "There is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of military occupation," Annan says in the report to be delivered to the UN Security Council next Tuesday. "There is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of military occupation," Annan says in the report.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=254557&lang=e&dir=news
All three soldiers were rushed to a nearby military hospital, where two of them died, said Corp. Todd Pruden, a spokesman for the military in Baghdad, AP reported.
The attack took place near Tal Afar, just west of the northern city of Mosul, Pruden said.
Elsewhere, American troops have surrounded since Saturday the Najaf home of a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric, Moqtada Sadr, who criticized on Friday the US-led occupation and the new Governing Council set up under its auspices, his spokesman said.
Troops and three armoured vehicles ringed the house, while a helicopter buzzed overhead before afternoon prayers but left after a few hours, Mustafa Yaccoubi told AFP.
Sadr was not at home but the US action triggered angry demonstrations around the city, located 180 kilometers south of Baghdad.
Sadr blasted the Governing Council in his first comments since it was unveiled last Sunday and denounced its brand of power-sharing among the country's ethnic and confessional groups.
Sadr also announced the formation of a private militia called the "Mehdi army" and demanded the shutting down of US-sponsored television and radio stations. Recruitment for the "Mehdi army" started Saturday in Baghdad's Shiite suburb of Sadr City.
Thousands of Iraqi Shiites shouted anti-US slogans in the heart of the Iraqi capital Saturday night. The protestors, about 3,000, yelled "We are soldiers of Sadr."
Meanwhile, a new report by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging the US to speed up the handover of power to the Iraqi people and bring back security and basic services. "There is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of military occupation," Annan says in the report to be delivered to the UN Security Council next Tuesday. "There is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of military occupation," Annan says in the report.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=254557&lang=e&dir=news