Active Unit News

U.S. kills Iraqis in suspected arms deal
Friday, August 8, 2003 Posted: 9:02 AM EDT (1302 GMT)
TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. troops Friday shot and killed two Iraqis believed to be making an illegal weapons deal in a market in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
Lt. Col. Steve Russell of the 4th Infantry Division said his soldiers opened fire on the men because they had illegal weapons and were seen as a potential threat. He said the Iraqis had not fired on the soldiers.
Russell said that his soldiers considered it a combat situation because of the weapons and that they are permitted to shoot and kill anyone posing a potential threat under the U.S. military's rules of engagement.
Two others involved in the alleged arms deal were shot and wounded. Russell said a fifth Iraqi man, believed to be a bystander, also was wounded when a bullet ricocheted.
In recent days, U.S. forces have carried out several raids in and around the northern town of Tikrit, netting dozens of suspected dissidents and weapons caches.
The Tikrit raid came hours after a soldier from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division was killed in the latest of a series of attacks on U.S. forces.
The soldier was shot dead Thursday night while on guard duty in Baghdad's Mansour district, according to U.S. Central Command. He died shortly after being transported to a nearby medical facility. The shooting is under investigation.
Two U.S. soldiers also were killed in a firefight late Wednesday in Baghdad's Rasheed neighborhood, according to Central Command. The soldiers from the 1st Armored Division were evacuated to the 407th Forward Support Battalion medical facility.
One soldier died on the scene and the other afterward from wounds received in the attack. An interpreter also was wounded and was treated at the medical facility.
In addition, two soldiers died in the last 24 hours of "nonhostile" causes, U.S. military officials said Friday. A soldier with the 504th Military Police Battalion was killed in a vehicle accident during a high-speed chase, while a soldier with the 1st Armored Division died as a result of a gunshot wound determined to be nonhostile, officials said. Both deaths are under investigation.
Fifty-six U.S. troops have been killed in combat since President Bush declared an end to major fighting on May 1. Since the start of the war, 258 U.S. troops have been killed -- 171 of those in hostile fire.
Toll rises in embassy blast Morgue officials on Friday updated the death toll from a car bomb attack outside the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, saying at least 16 people died in Thursday's explosion.
As many as 40 people were wounded in the blast, according to Lt. Col. Eric Nantz, a U.S. military spokesman. Five Iraqi guards were among the dead.
"We had persons unknown pull a vehicle in front of ... the Jordanian Embassy, stop the vehicle, exit the vehicle and walk away, and the vehicle sometime later was detonated with a large amount explosives inside," said Bernard Kerik, a former New York police commissioner who is overseeing the reconstruction of the Iraqi police force. (CNN Access: Kerik on security efforts)
Crowds rushed the embassy after the explosion, looting parts of the facility and burning pictures of Jordanian King Abdullah II and his father, the late King Hussein. U.S. officials then cordoned off the area. (On the Scene: Harris Whitbeck, Gallery: Scenes from the explosion site)
The wreckage of six cars burned outside the embassy as makeshift fire crews worked to douse flames at the shattered facade of the compound.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of American ground forces in Iraq, said U.S. forces in the area responded as soon as the attack occurred.
Sanchez called the attack the most significant against a "soft target" since Baghdad fell to U.S. forces in April.
Guarding embassies is mostly the task of the diplomats' own nations and Iraqis, not American forces, Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. "We are not necessarily going to guard foreign embassies," he said.
About 33,000 Iraqi police are on duty throughout the country, Schwartz said, with several thousand in the capital.
Jordan, a longtime U.S. ally, condemned the blast as "cowardly." The country has no troops in Iraq. Two of Saddam's daughters fled to Jordan and are staying there as guests of King Abdullah II.
Other developments
U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division play chess Friday at a base near Mosul before leaving for a patrol. • U.S. officials said that former Iraqi Defense Minister Sadi Tuma Abbas has surrendered to American forces and is in custody. They said they hoped that Abbas, who was more recently the labor and social affairs minister, may be helpful in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction and former regime officials. Abbas was not highlighted in the deck of cards depicting Iraqi leaders who were on the U.S. military's most-wanted list.
• Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, said he thinks Saddam is "on the run" and believes "he's moving every three to four hours," making it impossible for him to direct guerrilla operations. (Full story)
• A former Iraqi army general suspected as a leader of an anti-coalition cell was detained with nine others in a 1st Armored Division raid on a Baghdad house, Central Command said Thursday. Coalition forces also seized weapons and ammunition in 18 raids conducted during a 24-hour period.
• Iraqi bomb victim Ali Abbas, 13, who lost his arms in a U.S. raid that killed his parents in the Iraq war, has arrived in Great Britain for artificial limb surgery. Ahmed Mohammed Hamza, 14, who lost his left leg below the knee and his right hand, also was taken to London for treatment. Kuwait has promised to pay for the boys' medical care until they are adults. (Full story)

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