Iraq mosque explosion kills 10 as resistance to US continues

ROCKET-propelled grenades slammed into US military vehicles in two attacks yesterday in and around Baghdad after an explosion at a mosque in the town of Fallujah killed 10 Iraqis and injured four others.

Iraqi civilians sifted through the rubble of the mosque for evidence that a US missile or bomb strike caused Monday’s blast, but American soldiers at the scene disputed that account, saying it was likely caused by explosives at the site.

Postwar violence also has flared in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, where gunmen killed the head of the former leader’s tribe and wounded his son, the regional governor said yesterday.

There were no arrests in Sunday’s shooting of Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khattab and it was unclear if the assailants were pro-Saddam militants or had other revenge motives.

Al-Khattab had been close to Saddam but in recent weeks had publicly disavowed him, Tikrit residents said.

At the same time, al-Khattab “had many enemies and he had confiscated a lot of properties and killed many people,” said the governor, Hussein al-Jubouri.

In the capital yesterday, assailants travelling in a vehicle in the central Mustansiryah neighbourhood fired a rocket propelled-grenade at a US military vehicle, destroying it and likely causing casualties, Iraqi witnesses said.

One witness, 19-year-old Ali Ibrahim Shakir, said he saw two US soldiers being evacuated onto stretchers but couldn’t tell if they were hurt or killed.

A Mercedes travelling alongside the US vehicle was also hit, wounding the Iraqi civilian driver, said witness Mohammed Abdullah. US military spokesmen in Baghdad said they had no immediate information.

Also yesterday, witnesses said another rocket-propelled grenade slammed into a US truck on a road 12 miles south of Baghdad. The witnesses said that attack caused four casualties but there was no immediate military confirmation.

An explosion over the weekend at an ammunitions depot killed at least 15 people and injured at least four near Hadithah, 150 miles north-west of Baghdad, officials said yesterday.

Metal scavengers dismantled 155mm artillery rounds, spreading gun powder on the ground at the depot, which housed old Iraqi artillery.

A spark there on Saturday set off massive explosions, local officials said.

Hadithah policeman Lieutenant Saad Aziz said there was a large pile of TNT explosives at the depot, and people were smoking there.

“This kind of TNT is very sensitive to heat. A small spark could set the whole thing off,” he said.

Abdul Aziz Thalaj, 55, said he and two nephews went to the depot to get scrap metal to sell.

“I was amazed. I found live artillery ammunition. I felt this kind of work is very dangerous”, he said from a hospital in Hadithah, his feet covered in gauze and his shoulder and arm badly burned.

Mohammed Nayil Assaf, Hadithah’s mayor, put the death toll at 25 and the injured at six. He said there was a large amount of ammunition stored in the area and insisted US troops had been guarding it only sporadically.

“It was a tragic day for Hadithah,” he said from outside the town hall, near a three-foot-high pile of shell casings seized from looters after Saturday’s explosion.

In Fallujah, witnesses said the blast took place just before 11pm on Monday in a smallbuilding in the courtyard of the al-Hassan mosque.

The explosion blew out the walls and took down the roof. Hours later, dozens of people gathered around the site shouting anti-American slogans.

“There is no God but Allah, America is the enemy of God”, they chanted, as a crane lifted pieces of concrete.

Yesterday morning, about a dozen Iraqis searched the rubble for pieces of metal they said would prove an American attack caused the damage.

“These are pieces of a missile,” said Aqeel Ibrahim Ali, 26, holding a box of metal shards. “An airplane shot a missile.”

But Sergeant Thomas McMurtry, a reservist with the 346th Tactical Psychological Operations Company, said there was no evidence of a US attack.

“They did it to themselves. Clearly, the physical evidence does not support that (a missile strike) in any way,” he said.

McMurtry, a schoolteacher based in Dayton, Ohio who said he is a former special forces engineer with munitions training, said that if a bomb or missile caused the explosion, there would be shrapnel.

He said US army ordnance disposal personnel saw no sign of a missile strike.

Colonel Guy Shields, spokesman for the US military in Baghdad, said 10 Iraqis were killed and four wounded.

Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, has been a hotbed of anti-American activity and scene of several confrontations involving US troops.

Yesterday, a US sweep against remaining pockets of resistance in the so-called “Sunni triangle” north and east of Baghdad entered its third day. Troops detained six people.

At least 20 US and six British troops have been killed since President Bush declared the end of major combat on May 1.

The total killed includes Sgt 1st Class Gladimir Philippe, 37, of Roselle, NJ and Pfc Kevin Ott, 27, of Columbus, Ohio, whose remains were found at the weekend.