BAGHDAD, 8 October 2003 — Three US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed and three other service members were wounded in roadside bombings in Iraq on Monday and the Turkish Parliament yesterday approved a Cabinet decision to send troops to the troubled country.
In the first attack, one soldier attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was killed and another wounded in a bombing about 9:50 p.m. Monday just west of the Iraqi capital, the US Central Command said.
About an hour later, another roadside bombing killed two soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and their Iraqi translator, the military said. Two other soldiers were injured in the bombing, which took place in Al-Haswah about 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad.
The latest deaths bring to 91 the number of American soldiers killed by hostile fire in Iraq since US President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations here May 1. A total of 320 US service members have died in Iraq since the United States and Britain launched military operations against Saddam Hussein’s government on March 20.
The military also reported a helicopter made a hard landing at the US air base near Habaniya just west of Baghdad. Two soldiers were slightly injured.
US troops carried out a raid yesterday and captured an officer in the former Iraqi Army’s special forces who allegedly helped organize bombings and other attacks against American forces, the military said.
The arrest in a predawn raid in the city of Baqouba, north of Baghdad, came as a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of US troops driving near central Tikrit, slightly injuring three soldiers.
Also yesterday, large sections of Baghdad were in turmoil after an explosion inside the Foreign Ministry compound, former intelligence officers demanding back pay or jobs hurled paving stones at American forces and US solders confronted a big demonstration of Shiites after closing a mosque and allegedly arresting the imam. There were no known injuries in any of the incidents.
The Turkish Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of sending an undetermined number of troops to Iraq, despite strong opposition at home and from Iraq’s interim leadership.
By a vote of 358 to 183, Parliament backed a request from the government to deploy the troops as part of a force that is seeking to restore stability to Iraq.
The vote came despite a clear warning from the US-backed Governing Council in Baghdad for Turkish troops to stay away.
“The council is unanimous in issuing a communiqué against the sending of Turkish forces to Iraq,” said council member Mahmud Othman in Baghdad.
