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Roadside bomb kills 2 U.S. soldiers
By NICK WADHAMS
Associated Press
1/11/2005
Associated Press
Iraqis examine the wreckage after a car bomb exploded Monday in Baqouba, Iraq, while a U.S. military convoy was passing. No one was injured. Related photo on the Picture Page, C10.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - For the second time in less than a week, a roadside bomb Monday destroyed a heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle, killing two U.S. soldiers, injuring four others and indicating that insurgents have increased the power of the explosives they are using against American troops.
Hours earlier, gunmen in a passing car had assassinated Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son while they drove to work. Al-Qaida in Iraq, the group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the shootings, part of a campaign targeting Iraq's security forces.
American officials have cautioned that insurgents seeking to scuttle elections, scheduled for Jan. 30, will escalate attacks.
After a roadside bomb struck a Bradley on Thursday, killing seven soldiers, the Defense Department warned that militants had begun using larger, more powerful bombs.
Monday's attack in southwest Baghdad followed the same pattern.
"It's fair to say that they are afraid of the elections, they are afraid of what the outcome will be, and they want to do everything they can to derail that process because that's just one more step toward their demise," said Lt. Col. James Hutton, U.S. military spokesman. "This is probably an indication of their increase in effort and investment to derail the vote."
The attack was one of several acts of major violence Monday.
A suicide attacker detonated a bomb in a fake police car at a police station courtyard in Baghdad, killing at least four officers and injuring 10 during a shift change, police and witnesses said.
A roadside bombing killed three Iraqi National Guard soldiers and injured six during a joint patrol with U.S. troops in the restive northern city of Mosul, said Maj. Andre Hance, a U.S. military spokesman. The Americans, he said, suffered no casualties.
Sunni Arabs, who account for about 20 percent of Iraq's estimated 26 million people, say the country is far too dangerous for the vote later this month, and many are refusing to take part. Failure by the Sunni Arabs to participate would undermine the election's credibility.
But the United States rejected a request by Sunni Muslim clerics to spell out a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq in exchange for calling off their boycott of the elections, said Bob Callahan, U.S. Embassy spokesman.
A number of election officials and government leaders have fallen victim to brutal terror attacks, and many have received death threats. The most prominent victim in recent weeks was Ali al-Haidari, governor of Baghdad, who was slain last Tuesday with six bodyguards.
Monday, attackers shot and killed Brig. Amer Ali Nayef, Baghdad's deputy police chief, and his son, Lt. Khalid Amer, also a police officer. They were slain in Baghdad's Dora district while traveling in a car on their way to work, said Capt. Ahmed Ismail, Interior Ministry spokesman.
In other developments Monday, a day after an explosion killed eight Ukrainian soldiers in Iraq, the government said it would pull out its 1,650-member force by the middle of this year.
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The insurgents are using even more powerful explosives capable of devastating our heaviest armor. Are these the explosives that were stolen under the noses of the U.S. Military?
By NICK WADHAMS
Associated Press
1/11/2005
Associated Press
Iraqis examine the wreckage after a car bomb exploded Monday in Baqouba, Iraq, while a U.S. military convoy was passing. No one was injured. Related photo on the Picture Page, C10.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - For the second time in less than a week, a roadside bomb Monday destroyed a heavily armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle, killing two U.S. soldiers, injuring four others and indicating that insurgents have increased the power of the explosives they are using against American troops.
Hours earlier, gunmen in a passing car had assassinated Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son while they drove to work. Al-Qaida in Iraq, the group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the shootings, part of a campaign targeting Iraq's security forces.
American officials have cautioned that insurgents seeking to scuttle elections, scheduled for Jan. 30, will escalate attacks.
After a roadside bomb struck a Bradley on Thursday, killing seven soldiers, the Defense Department warned that militants had begun using larger, more powerful bombs.
Monday's attack in southwest Baghdad followed the same pattern.
"It's fair to say that they are afraid of the elections, they are afraid of what the outcome will be, and they want to do everything they can to derail that process because that's just one more step toward their demise," said Lt. Col. James Hutton, U.S. military spokesman. "This is probably an indication of their increase in effort and investment to derail the vote."
The attack was one of several acts of major violence Monday.
A suicide attacker detonated a bomb in a fake police car at a police station courtyard in Baghdad, killing at least four officers and injuring 10 during a shift change, police and witnesses said.
A roadside bombing killed three Iraqi National Guard soldiers and injured six during a joint patrol with U.S. troops in the restive northern city of Mosul, said Maj. Andre Hance, a U.S. military spokesman. The Americans, he said, suffered no casualties.
Sunni Arabs, who account for about 20 percent of Iraq's estimated 26 million people, say the country is far too dangerous for the vote later this month, and many are refusing to take part. Failure by the Sunni Arabs to participate would undermine the election's credibility.
But the United States rejected a request by Sunni Muslim clerics to spell out a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq in exchange for calling off their boycott of the elections, said Bob Callahan, U.S. Embassy spokesman.
A number of election officials and government leaders have fallen victim to brutal terror attacks, and many have received death threats. The most prominent victim in recent weeks was Ali al-Haidari, governor of Baghdad, who was slain last Tuesday with six bodyguards.
Monday, attackers shot and killed Brig. Amer Ali Nayef, Baghdad's deputy police chief, and his son, Lt. Khalid Amer, also a police officer. They were slain in Baghdad's Dora district while traveling in a car on their way to work, said Capt. Ahmed Ismail, Interior Ministry spokesman.
In other developments Monday, a day after an explosion killed eight Ukrainian soldiers in Iraq, the government said it would pull out its 1,650-member force by the middle of this year.
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The insurgents are using even more powerful explosives capable of devastating our heaviest armor. Are these the explosives that were stolen under the noses of the U.S. Military?
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