Death toll mounts in Iraq as two US soldiers killed in ambush

TWO American soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed and one was injured in an ambush yesterday when their convoy came under rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire in northern Iraq, the US military said.

The deaths brought to 151 the number of American soldiers killed in action since the March 20 start of the war, four more than the total killed in the 1991 Gulf war.

Also yesterday, a US soldier was killed and two others injured when their vehicle crashed and flipped over near Baghdad International Airport, according to a statement from US Central Command in Tampa, Florida.

Coalition forces in Iraq opened fire on a United Nations vehicle in Iraq on Sunday, a UN official in Baghdad said, adding that there had been no casualties in the incident.

“Coalition forces opened fire at a UN vehicle” the UN official said, asking not to be named. “The UN is looking into the incident.” He said the incident occurred near Baghdad airport but did not say when it happened or if the vehicle bore UN markings.

Meanwhile, an angry confrontation developed to the south of Baghdad. In the holy city of Najaf, 10,000 Shiite Muslim demonstrators were blocked by US troops from entering the American headquarters. Some clerics urged demonstrators to turn back. Soldiers used Humvees to barricade the building. There were no reports of shooting or other violence.

The demonstration began after followers of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr set out from the Imam Ali shrine on a six-mile march to the US headquarters, shouting slogans against the new Governing Council and the Americans.

“Long live al-Sadr. America and the Council are infidels,” chanted the crowds. “Muqtada, go ahead. We are your soldiers of liberation.” Earlier, al-Sadr said in a statement read inside the shrine that he wanted coalition forces to leave the town and allow Iraqis to handle security for themselves. In his Friday sermon, the cleric said he was recruiting for a private army but fell short of calling for armed struggle against the US occupation.

Also yesterday, a two-car convoy carrying members of the International Organisation of Migration was ambushed on a road near the southern city of Hilla when a pick-up truck pulled up alongside one of the vehicles and opened fire. One person, an Iraqi driver, died, and three other people were wounded. Omer Mekki, the deputy director of the World Health Organisation in Iraq, said a WHO convoy travelling just a few minutes behind the IOM vehicles treated the injured and brought the driver to a hospital, where he died. Both convoys were clearly marked as United Nations vehicles.

“We’re a bit shaken. Everybody is a bit shocked,” said Mekki. “But when we were recruited and we came to Iraq, we knew there were risks. An incident like this is not unexpected.”

In the attack in the North, all three soldiers were taken to a military hospital, where two of them died.

The attack occurred near Tal Afar, just west of the northern city of Mosul and about 240 miles northwest of Baghdad.

There were no reports of enemy casualties or arrests.

Most of the recent violence has occurred in an area north and west of Baghdad called the Sunni triangle, where some support for Saddam Hussein remains. Mosul is north of the Sunni triangle and has not been the site of much previous violence.

In the capital yesterday, a bomb detonated prematurely, missing another US Army convoy in the north of the city. The US military quickly sealed off the area as Army experts searched for more explosive devices.