Gunmen hit US troops as insurgency spreads

GUNMEN ambushed American soldiers on patrol with a roadside bomb then opened fire on them in Mosul yesterday, wounding one, as fears grew that the anti-coalition insurgency was spreading north a day after two American soldiers were killed here and their bodies mauled.

In the capital Baghdad, the Iraqi Governing Council pledged renewed efforts to fight "terrorism" and warned Middle Eastern broadcasters to avoid reports that incite violence.

Near the northern city of Kirkuk, an oil pipeline was on fire yesterday. Adel al-Qazzaz, manager of the Northern Oil Company, said he believed the cause was sabotage. Insurgents have repeatedly targeted pipelines, and sabotage of oil infrastructure has become a major problem for the US-run coalition.

In the Mosul attack, gunmen activated a roadside bomb and opened fire on the convoy, wounding a soldier, the military said.

The Americans responded with a barrage of fire, a witness said.

The day before, Iraqi teenagers dragged two bloodied US soldiers from a wrecked vehicle and battered them with concrete blocks, witnesses said.

The brutal killings were described as a burst of savagery in a city once safe for Americans.

Another soldier was killed by a bomb yesterday and a US-allied police chief was assassinated.

The US-led coalition also said it grounded commercial flights after the military confirmed that a missile struck a DHL cargo plane that landed on Saturday at Baghdad International Airport with its wing aflame.

Nevertheless, American officers insisted they were making progress in bringing stability to Iraq, and the US-appointed Governing Council named an ambassador to Washington an Iraqi-American woman who spent the past decade lobbying US politicians to promote democracy in her homeland.

Witnesses to the Mosul attack said gunmen shot two soldiers driving through the city centre, sending their vehicle crashing into a wall.

The 101st Airborne Division said the soldiers were driving to another garrison.

About a dozen swarming teenagers dragged the soldiers out of the wreckage and beat them with concrete blocks, the witnesses said.

"They lifted a block and hit them with it on the face," said Younis Mahmoud, 19.

It was unknown whether the soldiers were alive or dead when pulled from the wreckage.

Initial reports said the soldiers' throats were cut. But another witness, teenager Bahaa Jassim, said the wounds appeared to have come from bullets.

"One of the soldiers was shot under the chin and the bullet came out of his head. I saw the hole in his helmet. The other was shot in the throat," Jassim said.

Some people looted the vehicle of weapons, CDs and a backpack, Jassim said.

"They remained there for over an hour without the Americans knowing anything about it," he said. "I ... went and told other troops."

Television footage showed the soldiers' bodies on the ground as US troops secured the area.

One victim's foot appeared to have been severed.

The frenzy recalled the October 1993 scene in Somalia, when locals dragged the bodies of Marines killed in fighting with warlords through the streets.

In Baqouba, just north of Baghdad, rebels detonated a roadside bomb as a 4th Infantry Division convoy passed, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the military said.

In Baghdad, Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt confirmed the Mosul deaths but refused to provide details.

"We're not going to get ghoulish about it," he said.

The savagery of the attack was unusual for Mosul, once touted as a success story in sharp contrast to the anti-American violence seen in Sunni Muslim areas north and west of Baghdad. In recent weeks, however, attacks against US troops have increased in Mosul, raising concerns the uprising is spreading.

Simultaneously, attacks have increased against Iraqis considered to be supporting Americans such as policemen and politicians working for the interim Iraqi administration.

Gunmen killed the Iraqi police chief of Latifiyah, 20 miles south of Baghdad, yesterday along with his bodyguard and driver, American and Iraqi officials said.

No further details were released.

The assassination occurred a day after suicide bombers struck two police stations north east of Baghdad within 30 minutes, killing at least 14 people. Gunmen also killed an Iraqi police colonel protecting oil installations in Mosul on Saturday.