GyBill
08-02-2005, 16:50
Seven Marines killed in Iraq, toll passes 1,800
By Michael Georgy
Tue Aug 2, 2:38 PM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Seven American Marines have been killed in fighting in Iraq's western Anbar province, the guerrilla heartland which keeps challenging U.S. and Iraqi troops despite repeated security crackdowns.
One of Iraq's most violent Islamic militant groups, Army of Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility for the deaths, saying it had killed eight Marines.
"The lions of monotheism succeeded in killing eight American Marines, slaughtering some of them and shooting the rest after ambushing them in al Jazeera area, north of Haditha," it said in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site.
The attacks push the number of U.S. troops to have died since the start of the war in March 2003 to above 1,800, according to a Reuters count based on information provided by the Pentagon.
Pacifying Anbar is a top priority for U.S. and Iraqi officials who say the rest of the country cannot be stabilized unless guerrillas are rooted out of the region.
In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a police vehicle, killing at least five policemen and a child on Tuesday, hospital and police sources said.
The attack at a checkpoint on a road from Mosul to Baghdad also wounded eight people, the sources said.
Anbar is a nerve center for the two-year-old Sunni Arab-led insurgency, a loose alliance of mostly Arab Muslim militants who carry out suicide bombings and Saddam Hussein loyalists leading the guerrilla campaign.
Six of the Marines were killed on Monday near Haditha, a town on the Euphrates river 200 km (120 miles) northwest of Baghdad. They were engaged by insurgents with small arms.
The seventh Marine was also killed on Monday by a roadside bomb near the town of Hit, about 70 km southeast of Haditha, the Marines said in a statement.
Al Qaeda in Iraq, a group allied to Osama bin Laden, claimed responsibility for the attack in Hit in a Web statement.
Aware that many Iraqi security forces are still not capable of fighting guerrillas on their own, Iraqi leaders hope to draw more Arab Sunnis into politics in a bid to tame the country.
While they have won over some moderate Sunnis, drawing up a constitution and preparing for elections has little appeal for militants who believe they are fighting a holy war.
DEFIANT INSURGENTS
In the past month, nearly 60 U.S. troops have died, including five who were killed in two roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad at the weekend.
Iraqi forces have suffered far worse casualties. Hundreds have been killed in suicide bombs, assassinations and ambushes. U.S. and Iraqi officials say American troops can only pull out once local forces can take over security.
That is not expected any time soon.
U.S. and British ambassadors met senior Iraqi ministers on Tuesday to discuss the transfer of security from foreign to Iraqi forces, a process that lays the groundwork for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
It was the first meeting of a group which will decide over the coming months which parts of Iraq are safe enough for Iraqi forces to take over and let foreign troops pull back.
Insurgents have mounted frequent attacks in the area around Haditha. U.S. forces have launched at least two major offensives to try to quell the insurgency in the region.
A U.S. assault that crushed rebel bases in the city of Falluja in November raised hopes that heavy losses would demoralize insurgents in other parts of Anbar.
But violence still rages across Iraq nearly every day.
Five civilians were killed and one wounded when gunmen ambushed their car in western Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
A suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. patrol as it passed a crowded central Baghdad square. Police said some people were killed but could not give a figure. They said 29 were wounded.
A car bomb blew up near an Iraqi police patrol in al-Ummal district of Baquba, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Baghdad. A child was killed; eight policemen and a civilian were wounded.
A bomb detonated in a stationery shop in central Baghdad, killing two civilians, witnesses said.
U.S. and Iraqi officials say defeating insurgents in Anbar would help ease such attacks, minor incidents in a country where suicide bombs have killed more than 100 people at a time.
(Additional reporting by Maher Nazih and Luke Baker)
By Michael Georgy
Tue Aug 2, 2:38 PM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Seven American Marines have been killed in fighting in Iraq's western Anbar province, the guerrilla heartland which keeps challenging U.S. and Iraqi troops despite repeated security crackdowns.
One of Iraq's most violent Islamic militant groups, Army of Ansar al-Sunna, claimed responsibility for the deaths, saying it had killed eight Marines.
"The lions of monotheism succeeded in killing eight American Marines, slaughtering some of them and shooting the rest after ambushing them in al Jazeera area, north of Haditha," it said in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site.
The attacks push the number of U.S. troops to have died since the start of the war in March 2003 to above 1,800, according to a Reuters count based on information provided by the Pentagon.
Pacifying Anbar is a top priority for U.S. and Iraqi officials who say the rest of the country cannot be stabilized unless guerrillas are rooted out of the region.
In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a police vehicle, killing at least five policemen and a child on Tuesday, hospital and police sources said.
The attack at a checkpoint on a road from Mosul to Baghdad also wounded eight people, the sources said.
Anbar is a nerve center for the two-year-old Sunni Arab-led insurgency, a loose alliance of mostly Arab Muslim militants who carry out suicide bombings and Saddam Hussein loyalists leading the guerrilla campaign.
Six of the Marines were killed on Monday near Haditha, a town on the Euphrates river 200 km (120 miles) northwest of Baghdad. They were engaged by insurgents with small arms.
The seventh Marine was also killed on Monday by a roadside bomb near the town of Hit, about 70 km southeast of Haditha, the Marines said in a statement.
Al Qaeda in Iraq, a group allied to Osama bin Laden, claimed responsibility for the attack in Hit in a Web statement.
Aware that many Iraqi security forces are still not capable of fighting guerrillas on their own, Iraqi leaders hope to draw more Arab Sunnis into politics in a bid to tame the country.
While they have won over some moderate Sunnis, drawing up a constitution and preparing for elections has little appeal for militants who believe they are fighting a holy war.
DEFIANT INSURGENTS
In the past month, nearly 60 U.S. troops have died, including five who were killed in two roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad at the weekend.
Iraqi forces have suffered far worse casualties. Hundreds have been killed in suicide bombs, assassinations and ambushes. U.S. and Iraqi officials say American troops can only pull out once local forces can take over security.
That is not expected any time soon.
U.S. and British ambassadors met senior Iraqi ministers on Tuesday to discuss the transfer of security from foreign to Iraqi forces, a process that lays the groundwork for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
It was the first meeting of a group which will decide over the coming months which parts of Iraq are safe enough for Iraqi forces to take over and let foreign troops pull back.
Insurgents have mounted frequent attacks in the area around Haditha. U.S. forces have launched at least two major offensives to try to quell the insurgency in the region.
A U.S. assault that crushed rebel bases in the city of Falluja in November raised hopes that heavy losses would demoralize insurgents in other parts of Anbar.
But violence still rages across Iraq nearly every day.
Five civilians were killed and one wounded when gunmen ambushed their car in western Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.
A suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. patrol as it passed a crowded central Baghdad square. Police said some people were killed but could not give a figure. They said 29 were wounded.
A car bomb blew up near an Iraqi police patrol in al-Ummal district of Baquba, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Baghdad. A child was killed; eight policemen and a civilian were wounded.
A bomb detonated in a stationery shop in central Baghdad, killing two civilians, witnesses said.
U.S. and Iraqi officials say defeating insurgents in Anbar would help ease such attacks, minor incidents in a country where suicide bombs have killed more than 100 people at a time.
(Additional reporting by Maher Nazih and Luke Baker)