0
BAGHDAD, July 16: Attackers fired a surface-to-air missile at a C-130 military transport plane flying into Baghdad airport on Wednesday, but missed their target, a US military spokesman said.
“A C-130 was flying into Baghdad. It was fired upon by a surface-to-air missile,” the spokesman said. He said the incident happened around 8.45 a.m. (0445 GMT). He had no information to how close the missile had come to hitting the aircraft.
US SOLDIERS KILLED: A grenade attack killed a US soldier in Iraq on Wednesday, bringing the total combat deaths to 147, equalling the total in the 1991 Gulf War.
The latest death heaped pressure on US President George W. Bush, facing mounting criticism for the cost of the war and accusations the United States exaggerated intelligence on Iraq’s weapons to justify the conflict.
Nearly four hours after the first attack, a US military Humvee car was hit by a blast in Baghdad which inflicted casualties among US soldiers, witnesses said.
Witnesses said the Baghdad explosion damaged the vehicle and forced it off the road near a highway leading to the airport, adding that three or four soldiers in the vehicle were hurt.
A US soldier was also wounded in an attack overnight in central Baghdad, the military said.
SOLDIER DIES FROM FALL: A US Marine died after falling from a building while on guard duty in Iraq on Tuesday, the US military said on Wednesday.
The US military said the Marine from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force had died as a result of injuries received when he fell from the top of a building.
MAYOR, SON SHOT DEAD: The mayor of a town was shot dead along with his son on Wednesday, a US military spokeswoman said.
The crime in Hadithah, about 200 kms northwest of Baghdad, was under investigation and further details were unavailable, she said. The bodies were taken to Ramadi, the nearest big city, for an autopsy.
The Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera identified the mayor as Ali Mohammed Nayel al-Jughaify and said he was shot as he was driving home from his office.
“Residents accuse Jughaify of cooperating with the American forces,” it said, adding that unknown men had in the morning distributed leaflets asking residents not to cooperate with US forces.
MORALE SUFFERING: For US soldiers based in Iraq, daily attacks take their toll on troop morale, especially if your unit has just been told its tour of duty has been extended indefinitely.
“Of course we’re not happy,” says Specialist James Evans, from Florida, as he burns trash at the 3rd Infantry Division’s headquarters in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, scene of frequent clashes since the end of the war two months ago.
400 ARRESTED: US forces scouring Iraq for loyalists of the deposed Baath party regime have arrested more than 400 people in an operation which started last weekend, the military said in a statement Wednesday.
The arrests also include 11 people with possible links to the Al Qaeda terror group, Centcom said. The operation also yielded more than 100 assault rifles and nearly 400 mortar rounds, it said.
A separate operation by troops operating west of Baghdad netted 400 rocket-propelled grenades, the weapon so often used to deadly effect in attacks against US patrols, Centcom said.—Agencies
