U.S. Forces came under fresh attacks in Iraq

Additional Reporting By Subhi Haddad, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD , September 5 (IslamOnline.net) – As visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald reviewed security needs in Iraq Friday, September 5, four Iraqis killed and at least two American soldiers wounded in separate attacks in the war-torn country.

Three worshippers were wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on worshippers in a Sunni mosque in the Iraqi capital just after dawn prayers Friday, a witness said.

"Four men armed with Kalashnikovs opened fire on around 100 faithful at around 5:45 am (0145 GMT), right after dawn prayers," Shehab Ahmad, who attended the prayers told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Ahmad said the assailants fired some 50 rounds at the Qabaa mosque in Ash-Shaab City in northeast Baghdad , wounding three young men, one in the shoulders and stomach, another in the back and the third in the leg. The attackers fled in a car without license plates.

At noon prayers in the mosque, where traces of bullets were clearly visible, imam Sheikh Walid al-Azzawi denounced the "pseudo-Muslim" assailants and went on to strongly condemn last Friday's attack in Najaf.

Sectarian Strife

The attack occurred one week after a massive car bomb killed top Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohamed Baqer Al-Hakim and 82 others after Friday noon prayers in the Shiite holy city of Najaf and sparked fears that Iraq 's ongoing violence could take a sectarian turn.

Prominent Sunni leader Ahmed Al-Qubeissi told Iraqi journalists three days ago that Shiites seized 18 Sunni mosques, including 12 ones in Baghdad and the only two in the Shiite majority cities of  Najaf and Karbala .

The Iraqi Governing Council also decided to cancel the post of the minister of (Waqf) endowment and religious affairs in the new cabinet declared Monday, September 1, after Sunni leaders protested the efficiency of the Shiite candidate for the post.

Residents of the Sunni town of Fallujah west of Baghdad said security was tight around mosques there Friday, apparently for fear that Shiites who converged in thousands at their weekly prayers swearing vengeance Friday for the blast.

Iraqi police and officials have said holdouts of the Sunni-dominated regime of ousted president Saddam Hussein and Sunni radicals have been arrested in connection with last Friday's attack.

But some Sunni leaders undermined the possible sectarian strife in a country grappling with foreign occupation and lack of security.

"We are in one tunnel, and all these bids instigating a sectarian strife would be doomed as we are now want to liberate our land from the despicable U.S. occupation," Abdel-Salam Dawoud, a Sunni scholar and a member of the Muslim Oulma association, told IslamOnline.net.

Mohamed Ebeid, the dean of Islamic sciences faculty, witnessed a rising wave to make atmosphere conducive to throw seeds of sectarian divisions in the already-restive country.

"I blame Israel and those standing behind them for these bids to destabilize the country and spread chaos triggering these divisions," Ebeid told IOL.

Iraqi Boy Killed

"Your service has in many instances been tough and difficult," Rumsfeld

In the meanwhile, a 13-year-old youth, Omar Saad Jassem, was killed late Thursday after American troops opened fire and missed their target, his father said Friday.

"At 2145 (1745 GMT) an American unit was chasing and opening fire on an individual who was riding a motorbike, and fatally wounded Omar who was nearby," the boy's father Saad Jassem said.

The adolescent was ferried from Baquba, northeast of Baghdad , by an American helicopter to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

U.S. military spokesman Anthony Reinoso said there was one incident in Baquba late Thursday involving a makeshift bomb and an Iraqi who opened fire with an AK47 injuring one US soldier.

He claimed he had no information on the report of the dead youth.

U.S. Casualties

In another development, U.S. military convoys came under fresh attacks Thursday in the flashpoint Iraqi towns of Fallujah and Ramadi, west of Baghdad , according to witnesses, who said two soldiers were wounded in Ramadi.

A U.S. convoy came under attack in Fallujah, 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of the Iraqi capital, early Thursday when unidentified assailants fired three rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a tank, witnesses said.

Mohammed Salah, a 30-year-old resident, said that at about 7:00 am (0300 GMT) a convoy of tanks and armored vehicles passed through the center of Fallujah in al-Jamhuriyah district.

"Unknown people fired three RPGs at the convoy. One hit a tank and another struck a nearby house," he said.

Salah said the tank caught fire and troops stopped the convoy to douse the flames. There were no casualties.

A spokeswoman for the US military in Iraq said she was unable to confirm the attack.

Witnesses in Ramadi reported an attack late Thursday in the town, located 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad and like Fallujah a hotbed of anti-US unrest.

"Two RPGs were fired at a U.S. driving through the center of Ramadi at 8:15 pm (1615 GMT), wounding two soldiers," said Ali Abdullah.

Troops responded with heavy fire as two helicopters circled the site of the attack, he said.

There was no confirmation of that incident either from the US military. But US troops have faced repeated attacks since President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1.

Rumsfeld In Tikrit

The attacks came as Rumsfeld went right to Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit Friday as he reviewed security needs in Iraq after ruling out more US forces, while Britain mulled raising its own troop levels here.

Rumsfeld helicoptered to Tikrit, some 175 kilometers (110 miles) north of Baghdad, to meet with members of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division trying to tame an increasingly troubled region and told the troops they were succeeding in the fight against remnants of Saddam's regime despite their casualties.

"Your service has in many instances been tough and difficult ... (but) what you're doing -- know it's important, know it is succeeding, and it is still succeeding," he said.

Rumsfeld flew into Baghdad Thursday on an unannounced inspection tour as Washington scrambled to beef up local Iraqi forces and muster international help to supplement the 130,000 US troops in the country.