Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks over the past 24 hours

BAGHDAD, March 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Four Iraqi civilians, including a toddler, have been killed and four children wounded in an overnight U.S. military raid in the village of Gazwan, witnesses confirmed Thursday, March 25.

Meanwhile, two U.S. occupation soldiers were killed and others wounded in separate attacks across Iraq over the past 24 hours.

"Four people were killed, a man, two women and a two-year-old child. Four other children were injured," Jamal Ali, a 35-year-old lawyer, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He said the American occupation forces fired on the Gazwan village, located 80 kilometers west of Baghdad, for around two hours.

Ali added that livestock were also killed, three cars wrecked and houses damaged in the U.S. raid.

The Iraqi lawyer asserted that after the operation the occupation forces searched houses and captured at least 14 people.

A cousin of one of the victims, 50-year-old Fawaz Mohsan, gave a similar account while an AFP reporter witnessed the burial of the four victims early Thursday.

American military officials said they were looking into the report.

Eight Iraqi police cadets and two civilians were killed Tuesday, March 23, in Hilla, south of Baghdad.

U.S. Causalities

One soldier was killed and two were wounded when their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Baquba, 60 kilometers north of Baghdad, early Thursday, an American military spokeswoman said.

"The wounded were taken to a local military facility and are in stable condition," she added.

Earlier, U.S. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said one American soldier had been killed and another wounded Wednesday when their convoy came under attack north of the Iraqi town of Taji.

The convoy was hit by a roadside bomb and small arms fire, he told AFP, adding that U.S. troops responded and killed three attackers.

Added to an official Pentagon death toll, this ups to 283 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action since U.S. President George W. Bush declared major hostilities in Iraq over on May 1, according to AFP.

Power Transfer Countdown

On the political front, the countdown to power transfer from the U.S.-led occupation forces began in earnest Thursday with a U.N. team expected in Baghdad imminently to advise on who should lead the violence-wracked country from July.

American administrator Paul Bremer admitted Wednesday that ‘much work’ remains to be done before handing over authority an interim Iraqi government.

He laid out a series of goals to be achieved before his departure on June 30, including the creation this week of a new defense ministry.

The first priority is agreeing on what body will take over sovereignty in three months, and also the creation of a system to hold direct parliamentary elections as soon as possible -- tasks that the U.N. has been asked to help address.

A technical team from the world body is due to arrive in Baghdad this week to work with the U.S.-picked Governing Council and the U.S.-led occupation authority from Saturday.

A second delegation headed by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is scheduled to arrive a few days later, said council member Muwaffaq al-Rubaie Wednesday.

While warmly received by Iraqi interim leaders, Brahimi and his group may receive a frosty welcome from Iraq's influential Shiite scholar, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has deeply criticized a temporary constitution.

Several Iraqi Shiite scholars, including Sistani, dismissed the basic law as illegitimate document drawn up by an unelected body under pressure from the occupation forces.

 On Monday, Sistani threatened to boycott the U.N. team if the world body endorses Iraq's fundamental law in a Security Council resolution.