BAGHDAD,
June 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - U.S. occupation forces
killed 31 Iraqis on Friday, June 13, northeast of Baghdad, one day
after another massive raid killed 70, putting the death toll to 101.
"An
organized group of attackers fired RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) at
a 4th Infantry Division tank patrol in Balad on Friday," the U.S.
Central Command said.
"The
tanks returned fire, killing four of the attackers, and forcing the
remainder to flee.” The CentCom added in a statement quoted by
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Tanks
and Bradley Fighting Vehicles reinforced with AH-64 Apache helicopters
pursued the enemy personnel killing 23 of the attackers," it
added.
Friday's
clash came as American forces pressed forward with a massive sweep to
crush resistance north of Baghdad.
The
U.S. occupation forces said the sweep targeted supporters of Saddam
Hussein's ousted regime north of Baghdad.
But
Iraqi observers said that it is hard to find loyalists for the former
Iraqi leader more than two months since his ouster, in addition to a
grim reality of tough economic and social conditions battering the
country since the U.S. forces rolled into.
A
senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was
quoted by Reuters as saying Friday that about 70 Iraqi fighters were
killed in Thursday's attack on what he called a terrorist training
camp in western Iraq.
He
added that a U.S. soldier was killed in the attack, in which the 101st
Airborne Division took part.
Four
Others Killed
Separately
but also on Friday, four Iraqis were killed by the U.S. military
gunfire in a massive sweep for "Chemical Ali," a bloody
cousin of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, in the town of Dhuluiya,
60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Baghdad, witnesses said.
The
search started Sunday, June 8, and came to a close Friday morning when
U.S. armored vehicles withdrew from Dhuluiya, the sources said, adding
that two residents had been killed by U.S. fire, anther one died of a
brain hemorrhage after he was beaten up, and a fourth of a heart
attack after being interrogated by the army.
Majid
had been believed killed when his villa was bombed in the southern
Iraqi city of Basra during the U.S.-led invasion in April 2003.
Restive
Mosul
 |
|
Protestors
demonstrated against U.S. occupation in Baghdad
|
In
Mosul, three Iraqis were wounded in clashes between U.S. occupation
forces and Iraqi civilians in the northern city on Friday, U.S.
General Benjamin Freakley told AFP at the scene.
"One
was injured in the arm, another in the thigh and the third in the
stomach," he said.
Freakley
added a U.S. soldier was critically wounded in the fierce clashes.
"Our
soldier is in very bad shape, full of shrapnel," he said.
Freakley
said "angry Iraqis" were "throwing rocks and shooting
bullets from those high buildings surrounding the square and set off
improvised explosive devices."
"There
is also a report that one Iraqi sniper was shooting on our troops and
U.S. soldiers had to shoot back and kill him. We found an AK-47,"
he said, adding the report had "not been confirmed yet."
A
local religious figure claimed the men were former Iraqi soldiers that
were taking revenge because they had not been paid since Saddam
Hussein's regime fell to the U.S. and British coalition forces in
early April.
They
are soldiers that have not been paid and rebelled," Sheikh Abdul
Rahman al-Obeid said.
Iraqis
are furious
that the U.S. forces have not make
good on their promises to improve their situation, restore
order and address growing unemployment
rates to the war-impoverished country.
The
failure
to maintain security, restore public services or ease the tough living
conditions in post-Saddam Iraq, sent anti-American sentiments
sky-high.
Clashes
also broke out in Mosul Thursday, June 12, between several hundred
former Iraqi soldiers and local police as the men demanded their
salaries and tried to storm a government building.
A
Kurdish official said initial reports indicated three demonstrators
were killed by local police.
Freakley
put the toll at two dead and two wounded.
The
U.S. occupation forces’ announcement that troops of Saddam's
dissolved armed forces will receive just a single, still unpaid,
severance payment has sparked almost daily protests around Iraq.
Resistance
Continues
In
Baghdad, some demonstrators have even threatened to launch bomb
attacks against U.S. soldiers to press their case.
Protestors
gathered in front of the Palestine Hotel at Freedom Square to
demonstrate against the American Forces after Army troops entered the
Abu Hanifa Mosque.
Also
Friday, members of the political party The Highest Council To Liberate
Iraq also demonstrated in Najaf against the shutting down of their
newspaper The Eco of the Nation for alleged incitement to violence
against the U.S. occupation forces.
The
U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday, June 11, that they around 400 Iraqis
suspected of participating in recent resistance attacks against U.S.
occupation troops.
Also
on Thursday, Iraqi fighters shot
down an Apache helicopter gunship - the first American aircraft
downed by ground fire since the end of invasion two months ago - and a
U.S. F-16 fighter-bomber crashed Thursday. The crews of the aircraft
were rescued unharmed.
Twin
explosions hit an Iraqi oil pipeline earlier on Friday, one day after
the U.S.-led administration awarded a raft of contracts to
international oil companies to lift crude, the first since the
invasion ended two months ago.
