U.S. soldiers on patrol in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, July 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Few hours after An American soldier was killed and 19 others wounded in separate attacks in and near the Iraqi capital, U.S. troops gunned down 11 Iraqis who allegedly attempted to ambush an American patrol north of Baghdad on Friday, July 4.

"The attackers attempted to engage the patrol with small arms and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades). They were all killed when the patrol returned fire," Specialist Giovanni Lorente told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The attack occurred near Balad, around 75 kilometers (45 miles) north of the capital early Friday, he added.

No U.S. troops were injured in the attempted ambush, the U.S. military said.

Spiraling

With anti-occupation attacks showing no sign of abating, a U.S. soldier was killed in Baghdad late Thursday, July 3, while 19 others were wounded in a mortar attack near Balad.

A sniper shooting claimed the life of the American soldier, believed to have been on patrol in a Bradley armored vehicle.

"There was a shooting in Baghdad yesterday evening. A 1st Armored Division soldier was shot. He was initially evacuated to an aid station where he died," Major Sean Gibson told AFP Friday.

"There was a mortar attack inside or near the U.S. base," near Balad, Lorente said.

"Initial reports suggest that 19 U.S. soldiers were wounded," he said, making no mention on their condition.

Attacks against U.S. soldiers intensified amid growing anti-American sentiments

Friday – the U.S. Independence Day – marks end of a tough week for occupation forces in Iraq, amid rising waves of attacks coupled with anti-American sentiments thriving among local inhabitants.

Ten American soldiers were wounded Thursday, July 3, in three separate attacks in Baghdad.

The U.S. military admitted Wednesday, July 2, that a Marine was killed and three others were injured while they were clearing a minefield near Karbala, southern Iraq.

On Tuesday, July 1, six U.S. soldiers were killed and four others injured in two separate attacks in central and southern Baghdad, few hours after an American helicopter gunship reportedly bombed a mosque in Fallujah killing ten Iraqis.

U.S. defense officials said more than 67 U.S. troops had been killed in Iraq since May 1, when President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat.

Faced with a rising death toll and apparently increased armed resistance in the country, U.S. civil administrator Paul Bremer was reported to have asked Washington for more troops to help.

Russian Deputy Chief of Staff General Yury Baluyevsky warned Wednesday the U.S. is in danger of getting bogged down in another Vietnam in Iraq.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rebuffed Tuesday reports Iraq was becoming a quagmire, struggling to defeat perceptions that the occupation of Iraq has reached a cul-de-sac.

Bush had warned on June 21 that the U.S. forces in Iraq were facing a future of "danger and sacrifice."

Ten Iraqi civilians were killed in the main mosque in Fallujah after it was bombarded by an American helicopter gunship late Monday, June 30.

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.

Locals were further irked by the U.S. occupation forces continued massive detentions and house-to-house searches, in which hundreds of civilians were rounded up under claims of allegiance to Saddam.