December 17, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1424

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SAMARRA (Iraq), Dec 16: US forces have shot dead at least 17 Iraqis in three rebellious towns west of the capital, while three US soldiers were wounded by a bomb on Tuesday in Tikrit as violence simmered over Saddam Hussein’s capture.

Eleven attackers died when an ambush went wrong in Samarra, 125km from Baghdad, a US military statement said.

A patrol had “repelled a complex ambush” on Monday afternoon, emerging unscathed despite being “inundated” with fire, including automatic weapons, a home-made bomb, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar fire, the military said.

“A company commander on the scene confirmed that 11 attackers had been killed ... Samarran residents moved the attackers’ bodies from the area.

“There were no coalition casualties during the firefight and, except for a civilian automobile that was damaged by a rocket-propelled grenade, there was no damage to any other property or equipment,” it said.

At the local hospital, however, officials said they had received only one dead body and one man wounded in the leg left after treatment.

Ismael Hamada Selah, 28, died of chest wounds and was buried on Tuesday, an AFP correspondent reported. Residents and relatives said he was a civilian construction worker.

A correspondent saw bullet impacts on residential buildings in the Al-Khadra area on the edge of town, where the shooting took place.

Serious discrepancies between the US military and Iraqi version of events also emerged after clashes in Samarra on Nov 30. The army reported 54 attackers dead and 22 wounded, but the town’s hospital insisted it had only eight bodies.

In Tikrit, some 300 men of 122 battalion of the 4th Infantry Division backed by about 30 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles rolled through the city watched over by two Kiowa assault helicopters in a calculated show of strength on Tuesday.

“US forces were fired upon, wounding one US soldier,” when a platoon moved to the governor’s offices, a spokeswoman said.

“US forces returned fire killing two and wounding two.”

In Fallujah, two Iraqis were also gunned down, police and journalists at the scene said.—AFP