More Attacks Against US Forces in Iraq, 2 Killed
VOA News
10 Jul 2003, 22:01 UTC
The U.S. military says two American soldiers have been killed and another has been wounded in the latest attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq.
U.S. Central Command says one soldier was killed when his convoy was ambushed with small arms fire near the city of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad. Hours later, assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy north of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding another. Both attacks occurred late Wednesday.
Central Command says another American soldier died Wednesday from what it calls a "non-hostile gunshot incident." The military released no further details about the shooting, the report of which came from the city of Balad.
More than 30 American troops have been killed by hostile fire since May First, when President Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq to be over.
Commenting on the attacks, President Bush acknowledged there are "security problems" in Iraq and said U.S. troops will have to remain "tough and deal with it person by person."
Speaking in Botswana Thursday, Mr. Bush said the United States is making "steady progress" in establishing security and rebuilding Iraq. Meanwhile, Iraqi police in the central town of Falluja threatened to quit if U.S. forces do not immediately leave. Several dozen police protested near the mayors office Thursday, saying the U.S. presence in the town is provoking violence from insurgents.
Falluja along with the towns of Ramadi, Balad and Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, make-up the so-called "Sunni triangle." That area is north and west of Baghdad that has been a stronghold of Iraq's now banned Baath Party.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.
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