BAGHDAD, 14 October 2004 — Six American soldiers were killed in roadside bombings, the US command said yesterday, as US and Iraqi troops stepped up pressure on insurgents before this week’s start of the holy month of Ramadan.
The dead included two soldiers killed yesterday in the northern city of Mosul when a suicide driver plowed into a US convoy and blew up his car, the US military said. The other four were killed in separate attacks late Tuesday and early yesterday in Baghdad, the US command said.
Five soldiers were also injured in the Mosul attack — the second suicide operation against American forces there in the past three days.
In Baghdad, Iraq’s interim prime minister warned yesterday that US and Iraqi forces will launch military operations in the main insurgent stronghold Fallujah if residents do not hand over Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi, whose group has kidnapped and beheaded numerous foreigners.
During yesterday’s operations, US troops swept into the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi and joined Iraqi police and National Guardsmen in raids in Baqubah after a day of fierce clashes in militant enclaves stretching from the gates of Baghdad to the Syrian border.
Last year, insurgents sharply increased their attacks against US and coalition forces during Ramadan, expected to start at week’s end. More than 1,000 US and Iraqi troops launched two simultaneous raids yesterday around Baqubah, 57 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, to clear the area of insurgents.
One of the early morning operations took place just south of the city, in the village of Daliabbas, said Capt. Marshall Jackson, spokesman for the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. Several people were detained. The other operation also took place in Baqubah though no location was given.
“Basically, it’s a pre-Ramadan operation just to clear up some of the area around Baqubah,” Jackson said. The city has been relatively peaceful in recent months, but US commanders noted there was an upswing in insurgent activity during last year’s Ramadan in Diayala province.
In an unrelated attack, a police captain was killed yesterday in a morning drive-by shooting near Baqubah, officials said. Insurgents regularly target Iraq’s security forces, which are seen as collaborators with the United States and its allies.
In Ramadi, US troops sealed off key streets and searched buildings after days of clashes, residents reported.
There was no comment from the US command on the operation, and it was unclear whether the troops were searching for specific individuals or making a show of force.
On Tuesday, Iraqi government soldiers supported by US Marine and army units raided seven mosques in Ramadi, detaining four people and seizing bomb-making materials and pro-insurgent literature, the military said. The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical group suspected of links to the insurgency, condemned the mosque raids as an example of alleged American hostility toward Islam.
The US command said the raids followed a surge in insurgent attacks in Ramadi and accused the militants of violating the sanctity of the mosques by using them for military purposes. Marine spokesman Maj. Francis Piccoli said US troops provided backup for the Iraqi soldiers but did not enter the mosques.
In the north, Iraqi soldiers patrolling Tal Afar on Tuesday detained 18 suspected militants, while a joint US-Iraqi operation in Mosul netted five suspected rebels wanted for mortar attacks on military bases.
