BRIDGES NEAR SYRIA ATTACKED TO STOP FOREIGN FIGHTERS
SEPT 6 2005
U.S. Marine jets Tuesday attacked two bridges across the
Euphrates River near the Syrian border to prevent insurgents from moving
foreign fighters and munitions toward Baghdad and other cities, the U.S.
command said.
A Marine statement also said U.S. and Iraqi forces destroyed a "foreign
fighter safe house," killed two foreigners and arrested three others during a
Tuesday raid in the same area as the bridge attack.
Elsewhere, Iraqi civilians said they could see smoke rising Tuesday from the
northern city of Tal Afar, where fighting has been raging for days between
U.S. Iraqi forces and insurgents said to include foreign fighters.
The U.S. command said an American soldier was killed Monday in
Tal Afar. At least 1,890 members of the U.S. military have died since the war
began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Witnesses saw ambulances evacuating at least 10 injured civilians from the
city Tuesday.
The fighting occurred after U.N. chief Kofi Annan said Iraq had become an even
greater terrorist center than Afghanistan under the Taliban. Attacks
attributed to al Qaida's wing in Iraq have stepped up in the Baghdad area and
western Iraq.
A Marine statement said F/A-18 jets dropped bombs shortly after midnight on
two light bridges near Karabilah, about 185 miles west of Baghdad.
"The purpose of the strike was to prevent al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists from
using the structures for vehicular traffic to conduct attacks," the U.S.
statement said. "The munitions used in the strike were designed to crater the
bridges, rendering them inoperable but not destroying them."
The clash at the safe house occurred when U.S. and Iraqi troops came under
fire "by foreign fighters occupying" the building, the Marines said.
"Multinational forces personnel returned fire and assaulted the building,
suffering one friendly casualty when a Multinational Force soldier was
wounded," the statement said without citing the soldier's nationality.
Troops called in aircraft to destroy the building, "which was being used as an
operational headquarters," the statement added.
Karabilah is one of a cluster of towns near the Syrian border, a major
infiltration route for foreign fighters heading for Baghdad and other major
cities. Iraqi officials say al Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al Zarqawi, has
taken over parts of the area after residents fled fighting between tribes
supporting and opposing the insurgents.
Annan told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Monday that many young Muslims
are angry, and the situation has been exacerbated by what is happening in
Iraq.
"They feel victimized in their own society; they feel victimized in the West.
And they feel there's profiling against them," he said. "And the Iraqi
situation has not helped matters."
Annan added: "One used to be worried about Afghanistan being the center of
terrorist activities. My sense is that Iraq has become a major problem and in
fact is worse than Afghanistan."
In statements posted on Islamic Web sites, al-Qaida in Iraq claimed
responsibility for two attacks Monday a roadside bombing that killed two
British soldiers west of Basra and a daring daylight assault against the
Interior Ministry in Baghdad in which two policemen died.
U.S. Marines said al Qaida in Iraq launched multiple attacks Sunday against
U.S. and Iraqi targets in Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad. Twelve people -
including 11 civilians, an Iraqi soldier and three suicide bombers - died in
the Hit attacks
Elsewhere, Iraqi officials said al Qaida linked foreign fighters had taken
control of large areas of a strategic city on the Syrian border after weeks of
fighting between an Iraqi tribe that supports the insurgents and one that
opposes them.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said
much of Qaim, 200 miles west of Baghdad, had been abandoned.
U.S. Marines operate around Qaim but have complained privately that they do
not have enough American or Iraqi forces to secure the area properly.
The attacks in the Hit area began Sunday when two suicide car bombs exploded
at security barricades on the northwest side of town, a Marine statement said.
A car bomb also exploded on the Hit bridge across the Euphrates River,
rendering it impassable, the Marines said.
The Marine statement said three insurgents and one Iraqi soldier died in the
attacks. The government in Baghdad said eight civilians also died.
In Doha, Qatar, the U.S. Central Command said U.S. jets launched airstrikes
Sunday on insurgent positions near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, dropping
two 500-pound bombs.
The statement also said an Air Force Predator aircraft fired two Hellfire
missiles against a mortar firing position near Balad.
On Monday, gunmen seized a son of the governor of insurgent-infested Anbar
province, Mamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani, officials said on condition of
anonymity for fear of insurgent reprisal. The abduction occurred in the
provincial capital of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
U.S. and Iraqi officials had hoped the new constitution, which goes to the
voters in an Oct. 15 referendum, would help pacify the insurgency by luring
Sunni Arabs away from it.
However, Sunni negotiators rejected the constitution and vowed to defeat it in
the referendum. The bitter, protracted negotiations appeared to have raised
tensions among Iraq's ethnic and religious communities.
About 1,500 people, mostly Sunnis, rallied Monday near the Sunni city of
Ramadi to protest the draft charter.
On Monday, President Jalal Talabani said he and the other top Kurdish leader,
Massood Barzani, had agreed to changes in the draft constitution to mollify
concerns in Arab countries that the wording in the charter loosened Iraqi ties
to the Arab world.
The language at issue describes Iraq as an Islamic - but not Arab - country, a
concession to the non-Arab Kurds who form about 15 percent of the Iraqi
population.
Talabani said he and Barzani agreed "to accept some amendments deemed vital
for the Islamic and Arab worlds concerning the Arab League because Iraq is a
founding member in the Arab League."
Talabani did not specify what changes had been agreed to by him and Barzani,
head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Some Iraqi officials said last week the changes could keep the description of
Iraq as an Islamic state but add wording about Iraq having been a founding
member of the Arab League. Sunni Arab negotiators said then that such language
might satisfy the Arab League but not them.
 |
||
|
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD THESE FREE ADVERTISERS TO YOUR SITE |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spirit and Truth |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
Please rate this site at Just4Christ Top 50 Christian Sites |
 |
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
