Americans exaggerated death toll - Iraqis

The US army’s claim that 54 Iraqis were killed in two deadly ambushes in the northern town of Samarra was disputed by Iraqi residents today.

People in the city claim the casualty figure was much lower and that the dead were mostly civilians.

By the American account, the fighting was the bloodiest combat reported since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in a US led invasion.

The military said attackers, many wearing uniforms of Saddam’s Fedayeen paramilitary force, struck at two convoys at opposite sides of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The fighting represented a greater level of coordination in the Iraqi insurgency, although US forces said they had anticipated the attacks and blunted them with superior firepower.

Many residents said Saddam loyalists attacked the Americans, but that when US forces began firing at random, many civilians got their guns and joined the fight. Many said residents were bitter about recent US raids in the night.

“Why do they arrest people when they’re in their homes?” asked Athir Abdul Salam, a 19-year-old student. “They come at night to arrest people. So what do they expect those people to do?”

“Civilians shot back at the Americans,” said 30-year-old Ali Hassan, who was wounded by shrapnel in the battle. Tthey claim we are terrorists. What do they expect when they drive among us?”

Many residents said the Americans opened fire at random when they came under attack, and targeted civilian installations.

Six destroyed vehicles sat in front of the hospital, where witnesses said US tanks shelled people dropping off the injured. A kindergarten was damaged, apparently by tank shells. No children were hurt.

US Captain Andy Deponai, whose tank was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade during the firefight, said he was surprised by the scale of the attack on the convoys, which were carrying bundles of new Iraqi currency, and that 30 to 40 assailants lay in wait – armed with rocket-propelled grenades – near each of the two banks where the money was being delivered.

“Up to now you’ve seen a progression – initially it was hit-and-run, single RPG shots on patrols. Then they started doing volley fire, multiple RPG ambushes, and then from there, this is the first well-coordinated one,” he said.

“It’s hard to tell on the basis of one attack exactly what tactics may or may not be changing,” Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Brussels, news conference with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“The fact is that in this particular case, about 50 or so of the enemy did collect together for whatever reason they thought was appropriate,” Pace said. “They attacked and they were killed. So I think it’ll be instructive to them for future analysis when they’re thinking about what they’re going to do next.”

West of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed an American military convoy, killing one soldier, the US military said. The attack with small arms fire was near Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad

In Spain, as mourners buried the seven intelligence agents killed over the weekend, criticism mounted over the country’s involvement in Iraq.

A front-page editorial in El Mundo daily newspaper said the attacks could no longer be qualified as terrorism – but must be considered an expression of the wishes of the Iraqi people.

“We believe the Spanish presence in Iraq in its current form – with troops more focused on self-defence than on any other task – makes increasingly little sense,” the editorial said. “Only the United Nations can channel a process of transferring power with any sense of legitimacy.”