An anti U.S. demo in Falluja

BAGHDAD, May 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Two Iraqi civilians were killed by the U.S. occupation forces in the western Iraqi city of al-Falluja on Thursday, May 22, as an American soldier was killed when his Humvee tank overturned elsewhere of the war-torn country.

The U.S. tanks ran over two civilian cars, smashing two people inside one of them to death, and opened indiscriminate fire at the area after having come under fire, Al-Jazeera said.

This came after four blasts rocked the U.S. military base in the city late on Wednesday, May 22. One eyewitness said that that he saw fire billowing of a U.S. tank at the scene of explosions, the channel’s correspondent said by the telephone on air.

The U.S. forces imposed a curfew on al-Falluja by loud speakers, and fire shots still heard in different parts there, Al-Jazeera said.

Seven U.S. soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack at their base in Falluja on May 1, where American forces shot dead 18 people during anti-occupation protests in the same week.

American Killed in North

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded when their Humvee vehicle overturned north of Baghdad on Wednesday, the U.S. Central Command announced Thursday.

"A Task Force Ironhorse soldier was killed early (Wednesday) morning near Baqubah, approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Baghdad," the Centcom was quoted by Agnece France-Presse (AFP) as saying.

"The soldier was involved in a mounted force protection patrol when the High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) he was riding in rolled over.

"One passenger suffered a bruised leg and the driver of the vehicle was not injured," Centcom said, adding that the incident was under investigation.

The accident occurred in an area near the border with Iran controlled by U.S. occupation forces.

Separately, Centcom said U.S. military police arrested 20 people and confiscated 5.5 million dollars during a raid of a home in ad-Diwaniyah south of Baghdad on Tuesday, May 20, night.

An AK-47 rifle and pistol were also seized in the raid, Centcom said without giving further details of the operation.

U.S. soldiers also raided a house "suspected of belonging" to one of the 55 former Iraqi officials on Washington's most-wanted list, Centcom said.

The soldiers detained seven people, "including one woman who may be the wife" of the wanted official, Hani Abdel-Latif al-Tikriti, a former special security chief, it said.

They also confiscated numerous AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, bags of money and an address book during the raid.

Centcom did not say where the house was located, but listed the raid with other coalition activities in Baghdad.