U.S. troops prepare to take an injured soldier to a medical facility

Additional Reporting By Subhy Haddad, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, August 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As "several" U.S. soldiers were killed and many others injured in separate resistance attacks across Iraq Wednesday, August 13, American forces killed an Iraqi boy and wounded at least four people in the first clash with Shiite Muslims in Baghdad since the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Witnesses told IslamOnline.net correspondent that at least four other American soldiers were killed and others wounded in a resistance attack early Wednesday on a patrol in Hay Al-Amil district near the airport road

They added that an American personnel-carrier was completely destroyed after hit by by RPGs.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, witnesses also told IOL that four American soldiers were killed Wednesday in an attack on a U.S. patrol by Fida’yee Sadddam.

However, the U.S. occupation army has only confirmed the killing of two soldiers.

An attack 15 miles south of Tikrit killed one U.S. soldier and wounded a second Wednesday when their four-vehicle convoy hit a roadside bomb, according to Maj. Josslyn Aberle, spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division.

"One 4th Infantry Division soldier was killed and one wounded when their vehicle struck an IED (improvised explosive device) at approximately 7:00 am (0300 GMT) this morning near Baghdad," she told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The Americans also reported a soldier killed and two wounded in a bomb attack Tuesday, August 12, near Taji, 12 miles north of the capital.

The attack was in the same region where an oil pipeline fire sent flames 200 feet into the air.

On Tuesday a U.S. soldier was killed and two more wounded outside the flashpoint town of Ramadi, 110 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital, when their convoy came across a chain of IEDs.

Angy Iraqis threatened bombing attacks against U.S. forces

In a related development, the U.S. army announced Wednesday that 60 American troops have been killed in guerrilla-style attacks since major combat operations in Iraq were declared over on May 1.

A further 475 "coalition" troops were wounded in combat over the same period, Colonel Guy Shields told reporters, without giving a breakdown by nationality.

He added that seven British soldiers had died in attacks since May 1, although a British army spokesman later said only six had been killed.

Shiites Clash

U.S. occupation forces opened fire at several thousand angry Iraqi protestors in Sadr City, killing an Iraqi boy and wounding others.

"The result of this fight was four seriously wounded, and one young boy killed," Sheikh Ali al-Mutairi told AFP in Sadr City, the overwhelmingly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad where the clashes occurred.

However, Jalil Mahsen, 39, told AFP he helped take several wounded Iraqis to hospital.

"One boy was killed, and there are now 13 wounded in Al-Shouader Hospital," he said.

U.S. military spokespersons, contacted in Baghdad, said they had no information on the incident.

Iraqi Shiites shout anti-U.S. slogans during a demonstration in Al-Sadr City

Mutairi, who is deputy director of the Office of the Second Martyr attached to firebrand anti-occupation Shiite scholar Moqtada Sadr, and other witnesses said the violence flared in the morning after an American helicopter tried to remove a black Sadr flag from a communications tower.

A helicopter gunship hovered over the tower to remove the flag, but a female crewmember was beaten back by stick-wielding Iraqi men who had climbed the structure to defend their symbol, Mutairi and several others said.

U.S. forces responded by shooting in the air and ordering in six Humvees of troops to maintain order.

Iraqi gunmen quickly responded with a round of gunfire at U.S. ground troops, and a firefight broke out.

"The shooting lasted about 20 minutes," Mutairi said, adding the Americans "pulled out their troops…and our heroes controlled the situation."

Several thousand people were seen demonstrating at the site Wednesday afternoon and chanting anti-American slogans, as five flags including a new black Shiite banner were seen fluttering from the tower.

"We are ready to carry out bombing attacks against the Americans if we are told to do so," railed one of the demonstrators.

Shiites, who make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 25-million population and were persecuted under Saddam's regime, are considered vital to U.S. schemes in Iraq.

Moqtada Sadr has spoken out vehemently against the occupation and threatened to mobilize a "Mehdi Army" of volunteer followers to rise up if called upon.

The neighborhood of two million, known as Saddam City during the dictator's reign, has been renamed after Sadr's father, the grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr.

Iraqi Policemen Wounded

In Fallujah, two Iraqi policemen were wounded when unknown attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at midnight (2000 GMT) at city hall in Fallujah, police said Wednesday.

"The two (policemen) were injured in an RPG attack on the city hall building," police First Lieutenant Mazen Khalif told AFP.

"There was an exchange of fire between police and the attackers, and then police spread out across the area searching for them," he added.

The two men were transferred to the Jordanian Hospital in the town 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Baghdad.

Less than two hours later there was a second attack, with three RPGs fired at the same building. No casualties were reported, although the front of the building was again lightly damaged.

After the second attack police stayed on the streets until morning and set up roadblocks on the main roads of town.

Ongoing Arrests

Meanwhile, U.S. troops continued their all-out search operations at the north-central town of Tikrit, some 150kms to the north of Baghdad.

A number of civilians have been arrested in Tikrit, under charges of having been either bodyguards of Saddam or members of "Fida’yee Sadddam" force, previously led by Saddam’s eldest son Uday.

U.S. troops arrested Tuesday, August 13, seventy three Iraqis on charges of being Saddam loyalists in raids north of the capital Baghdad early. Later, 66 of them were screened and released.

This came as the U.S. forces received a stern warning from one of their best friends in Iraq, the 25-member Governing Council.

Ibrahim Jafari, the council's first president, said the fledgling body had told the Americans to ease their aggressive raids, as civilians find themselves trapped in the middle, with lethal consequences.

He warned that rough conduct by U.S. forces would only let "hatred grows against them."