BAGHDAD, 3 July 2004 — Fighters using a jerry-rigged launcher fired rockets into the heart of Baghdad yesterday, shaking the capital and hitting two hotel compounds frequented by foreigners, officials and witnesses said.
West of Baghdad, two US Marines were reported killed in action during separate military operations Thursday and yesterday in troubled Anbar province, the military said. American forces also clashed with fighters in the northern city of Beji, killing two and wounding a third.
With the rebellion showing no sign of abating, Jordan and Yemen offered to send troops to help shore up security — albeit with conditions that may prevent those deployments. No Arab nation to date has contributed soldiers to the US-led coalition.
The latest violence in Iraq comes just days after Monday’s transfer of sovereignty to the new interim government, which is slated to hold national elections by January 2005. US and Iraqi officials have acknowledged the fighting will not die easily and warn attacks will continue.
The US gave no details on its operations in Anbar — a volatile Sunni-dominated province that stretches west toward Iraq’s western border. In the northern town of Beji, five fighters attacked a US 1st Infantry Division patrol with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, Maj. Neal O’Brien said. The patrol returned fire, killing one of the attackers and wounding another, he said.
Later yesterday, about a dozen fighters fired on US troops at a police station in Beji, 190 kilometers north of the capital, Baghdad. A gunbattle ensued, and soldiers killed one rebel firing from a nearby rooftop, O’Brien said.
In Baghdad, fighters launched at least three separate rocket strikes, but caused little serious damage to the city.
In one attack, they parked a van fitted with a jerry-rigged rocket launcher near Firdous Square, the roundabout that became famous worldwide when US forces helped toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein there April 9, 2003 — just after the city’s fall.
One rocket fired from the van slammed into the Sheraton Hotel, frequented by foreign journalists and security contractors, but caused only minor damage. A second rocket hit a car parked in the compound of the Baghdad Hotel, used by Western security contractors.
The launcher fell over when a third round misfired, destroying the van instead and sending black smoke wafting over a blue domed mosque.
The Karbala Brigades, a previously unknown rebel group, claimed responsibility for attacking the Sheraton in videotaped message sent to the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera satellite station. The statement didn’t say when the attack took place, but it was apparently referring to the one yesterday.
A bystander, Ahmed Khayar Abbas, said he saw the van approach. “A group of people got off and left. Then, it exploded,” he said.
The US military said the attackers were trying to hit the nearby Green Zone, a heavily guarded stretch of territory along the banks of the Tigris River which is home to the US Embassy and key offices of Iraq’s new government.
In another attack, a statue in nearby Wathik Square was hit by a rocket. Another impacted near the Indonesian Embassy, but didn’t explode, police said.
A third strike in western Baghdad’s Yarmouk neighborhood hit the front gate of the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters, blowing out windows and wounding a guard, the US military said.
In Amman, Jordan’s King Abdallah announced he was willing to send troops to Iraq if the government requested its help.
Speaking in an interview Thursday with the British Broadcasting Corp. television “Newsnight” program, Jordan’s king said his message to the Iraqi government was clear: “Tell us what you want. Tell us how we can help, and you have 110 percent support from us,” he said. “If we don’t stand with them, if they fail, then we all pay the price.”
Yemen, too, was willing to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq, said Foreign Ministry officials in Sanaa, speaking on condition of anonymity. But the country would only deploy troops if they are under UN control.
Meanwhile, kidnappers freed three hostages — one Pakistani and two Turks whose employer agreed to quit doing business with the US military, officials said.
The two Turks had been missing since June 1. They included Soner Sercali, an air conditioning repairman, and his co-worker Murat Kizil. The Turkish Embassy confirmed their release and said no ransom had been paid.
The kidnappers, who identified themselves as the Mujahadeen Brigade, freed the two men after their employer, Kayteks, issued a statement promising to stop working in Iraq.
A video aired by Al-Jazeera television yesterday just before the release showed the two men kneeling before three masked fighters. One of the gunmen read a statement saying the men were being released after having promised not to work with coalition forces.
“To honor the Muslim Turkish people, and upon the repentance of the two hostages, and their pledge not to do such a thing again,” said one of the gunmen.
Also yesterday, a Pakistani hostage, Amjad Hafeez, was freed by fighters who had threatened to behead him unless President Gen. Pervez Musharraf closed Pakistan’s embassy in Iraq.
— Additional input from agencies
