BAGHDAD, 14 August 2003 — Two US soldiers were killed and three wounded in two separate attacks on convoys using home-made bombs, the US military said yesterday.
“A Fourth Infantry Division soldier was killed and two others wounded at 6:15 pm (1415 GMT) on Tuesday when their convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Al-Taji,” about 15 km north of Baghdad, spokesman Specialist Anthony Reinoso said.
Another American soldier was killed and a second wounded early yesterday when their four-vehicle convoy hit a roadside IED, also north of Baghdad, the military said. That attack was in the town of Dawar, 25 km south of Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit and about 150 km north of the capital. At least 60 American soldiers have now been killed in guerrilla-style attacks since the White House declared major combat operations in Iraq over on May 1. Another 62 have died in non-combat incidents. IEDs, which include simple jerry-rigged hand grenades and sophisticated remote-detonated explosives, have proven to be weapons of choice in the low-intensity insurgency against the US-led occupation of Iraq.
On Tuesday, a US soldier was killed and two more wounded outside the flashpoint town of Ramadi, 110 km west of Baghdad, when their convoy came across a chain of IEDs.
An Iraqi boy was killed and at least four people were wounded yesterday, a religious leader and witnesses said, in the first clash between US forces and Shiite Muslims in Baghdad since the war to oust Saddam Hussein. In another incident, gunmen claiming to be from the Al-Qaeda network fought US troops in a Baghdad battle that left an Iraqi dead.
US administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer said yesterday American troops were “not sitting ducks” in Iraq, where they come under constant attack from opponents of the occupation. Asked how long US troops would stay in Iraq, Bremer told ABC’s “Good Morning America” show: “I guess we will be here a while. There is not any deep, dark secret here. It’s a question of how this develops,” he said.
Asked whether US troops were easy targets, Bremer said: “The American soldiers here are not sitting ducks. Force protection is their first job and they do a very good job of it. It doesn’t mean you can eliminate casualties, you can’t. I don’t know what more people think we can do.”
Speaking in an interview to mark 100 days as US ruler in Iraq, Bremer said he expected the country’s new governing council would write a constitution within six to eight months after holding a convention. “Then they have to hold elections and that will then lead to the institution of a new sovereign Iraqi government.”
