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BAGHDAD, Aug 28: Eight US soldiers were killed as a result of a series of guerilla attacks in and around Baghdad on Sunday, the US military announced. In the central Iraqi town of Diwaniyah, Iraqi security forces were locked in fierce clashes with Shia militias, killing 40 militiamen and losing 20 soldiers.
In the deadliest single incident involving US troops, four soldiers died when the vehicle they were riding in was struck by a bomb north of Baghdad, the military said Monday.
Another soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in the capital, the military said, and another later died of wounds sustained in the attack.
A sixth died in a similar attack south of the capital.
The military had already announced on Sunday the death of another soldier killed when he came under small-arms fire in Baghdad.
The latest deaths brought the US military’s losses in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 2,627.
DIWANIYAH FIGHTING: A security official in Baghdad said many of the government soldiers had been ‘executed’ after being captured by the militia and that government forces had lost control of some city districts.
He said security forces were setting up a cordon around Diwaniyah after ‘rogue elements’ of the Mahdi Army militia seized complete control of two neighbourhoods.
“The militia has set up its own checkpoints and there are IEDs (improvised explosive devices) everywhere. Diwaniyah is too hot right now, but the Iraqi army is working to stop more militia arriving in the area,” he said.
An Iraqi army captain in Diwaniyah said: “We have also asked for more troops from other provinces because a big military operation has been planned.”
Large numbers of Iraqi army soldiers could be seen arriving in the area, and surrounding the Nahda and Jimhuriyah neighbourhoods, which appeared to be in the hands of the militia.
The Mahdi Army is a loosely-organised militia force nominally loyal to the hardline Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, whose movement has ministers in Iraq’s coalition government.
Local leaders from Diwaniyah said the militiamen were rogue elements and had earlier rejected a call from Moqtada Sadr for them to put aside their weapons to take part in Iraq’s political process.
“What is going on is an attempt by the government to get rid of an element which is trying to disturb the security of the town,” said Abdumunaam Abu Tibikh of the provincial council of Qadisiyah, of which Diwaniyah is capital.
A senior Sadr supporter in nearby Najaf, Sahab al-Ameri, also disowned the fighters.
“These acts have nothing to do with the Mahdi Army,” he said, blaming ‘infiltrators’ for carrying out the killings. He nonetheless accused US ‘occupation forces’ of provoking the fighting.—AFP
