U.S. forces are facing almost daily fatal attacks

BAGHDAD, July 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and a third wounded Sunday, July 20, in an ambush in northern Iraq, as Iraqi Shiite rose up against the U.S. in one of  the biggest demonstrations in Iraq since the end of the war on May 1.

"Two soldiers were killed and one wounded," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Corporal Todd Pruden as saying, adding that the three were from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.

"Their unit was ambushed with rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and small arms fire near Tall Afar, west of Mosul," in northern Iraq, he said, noting that the attack happened early Sunday.

The soldiers were evacuated to a military hospital but two died of their wounds, he said.

The deaths take to 37 the number of U.S. troops killed in action since the end of major combat operations in Iraq, according to an AFP account.

Meanwhile, three loud explosions were heard on the outskirts of the flashpoint town of Fallujah on Saturday night, July 19.

Shortly after the explosions U.S. helicopters were seen hovering over the town, where a U.S. soldier was killed a day earlier in a roadside bomb blast.

Aljazeera's ground correspondent, however, that U.S. troops came under mortar attacks, noting that six loud explosions were heard in the town.

U.S. military officials were not immediately available to comment on the explosions.

U.S. troops withdrew from Fallujah on July 11 after mounting and unflinching resistance.

Iraqis Trained

Angry Shiite Muslims shout anti-U.S. slogans during a Saturday's mass rally

The almost anti-U.S. daily attacks come as the new commander of U.S. troops in Iraq and chief of the U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid, said that the U.S. military plans to train and equip Iraqis to conduct military missions alongside U.S. and British troops in Iraq, in a move seen as trying to pit the Iraqis against one another.

"The Iraqis want to be in the fight. We intend to get them in the fight," Abizaid told The Washington Post in his first interview since replacing Tommy Franks earlier this month.

Speaking at Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Abizaid said it would take "years" to create a new Iraqi army and that "in the interim, we need civil defense forces that can operate with coalition forces, and eventually alone."

The plan calls for forming 10 battalions of 350 Iraqis each. Each battalion would be trained by a U.S. division or regiment and operate alongside it, a senior Central Command official told the Post.

The U.S.-handpicked fledgling Iraqi Governing Council approved the plan when it met this week.

"It's very important to reduce the number of army troops in our cities, whether they are American or British," council member Ghazi Yawur was quoted as saying.

Abizaid, who earlier this week acknowledged that guerrilla tactics were being used against his troops, said he plans to change the configuration of U.S. forces to better fight their attackers.

In about a month, "We will change the configuration of forces so that it becomes lighter, more mobile, more agile against the enemy that we face," he told the Post.

Abizaid is due to travel Sunday to Iraq for the first time since becoming head of U.S. CENTCOM. He said he is bringing two clear orders from U.S. President George W. Bush: "Number one is take the fight to the enemy, and number two is, stay the course."

Shiites' Rise-UP

"The Iraqis want to be in the fight. We intend to get them in the fight," Abizaid

Meanwhile, up to 1000 demonstrators gathered in the Shiite holy city of Najaf Sunday and were to march on a U.S. base near the city in support of Shiite scholar Moqtada Sadr, a fiery critic of the U.S.-led occupation.

Chanting "No, no to America! No, no to the arrogant!" the protesters rallied outside Najaf's main mosque, the tomb of imam Ali and one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, dressed in white robes and wearing green headbands.

"We are the followers of Sadr!" they chanted, beating their chests, punching their fists in the air and carrying banners depicting Sadr's father.

Sadr, who has seen his popularity rocket in the chaos and power vacuum of post-war Iraq, said that U.S. troops had besieged his home on Saturday after he gave an outspoken sermon Friday, July 18, lambasting the coalition.

The scholar's spokesman, Mustafa Yaqubi, said Sunday that a crowd of demonstrators had marched on the U.S. base outside the town late Saturday and that they had met a senior U.S. officer who had apologized for the incident.

"The first thing people want is to protect Sadr from any harm. After his speech it became a possibility that he would be harmed," Yaqubi said.

He said Iraq's Shiite majority was still seeking a peaceful resolution, but warned the U.S.-led troops not to interfere in Iraqi politics.

"We are seeking a peaceful solution with America, so no blood will be spilled," he said, adding that an armed Intifada against the occupation was "far away still."

"If they want to stay for security reasons and they do not interfere in politics it is good," Yaqubi said of the U.S. occupiers.

"But if they want to interfere in our politics, they are an occupying force and they should leave," he added.

He echoed Sadr's criticism of Iraq's Governing Council, unveiled last weekend. "This council has not been elected and there has been no popular consensus for the people to choose their own leaders.

"If Americans impose a Governing Council, this country will not abide by their laws and constitution," he added.