FALLUJAH, 6 June 2003 — One US soldier was killed and five others wounded in the flash point Iraqi town of Fallujah yesterday, a day after commanders said extra troops would be sent to tackle deadly attacks on their forces in western Iraq.
The soldiers had just completed a foot patrol through the conservative city when a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) slammed into their vehicles parked outside a police station on the main road through the town, witnesses said.
One vehicle was destroyed and a second caught fire in the attack which happened shortly after midnight (2000 GMT Wednesday) just as the patrol was preparing to pull off.
“Soldiers were in the blazing vehicle shouting: ‘Help me’,” the imam of the next door mosque, Sheikh Taleb Ali, told AFP.
As many as 10 were stretchered off, according to witnesses. US Central Command said one soldier was killed and five were wounded.
“The injured were evacuated by a vehicle to a local military medical facility.
“The soldiers are assigned to the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division,” Centcom said.
It was the second deadly attack on US troops in Fallujah in just nine days. On May 27, two soldiers were killed and nine wounded in an RPG attack just across the Tigris River from the town center.
Tension has been boiling here since late April, when US troops shot dead at least 1zh6 protesters in two separate incidents.
None of the residents spoken to by AFP had a word of criticism for the attackers but they all ranted furiously against the US soldiers occupying their town.
“Everyone in Iraq is behind the attacks. We don’t want the Americans here,” said Uday Beldi Edan, 52, who lives near the scene of the attack.
“This is an insult and an occupation. The Americans alone are responsible for this violence. Of course, there will be more attacks. It is better for them to leave. All Iraqis will attack the Americans.”
