Insurgents use hospital to ambush US soldiers

Iraqi Insurgents used the volatile city of Ramadi’s main hospital to ambush US soldiers, the military said today, firing rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire at troops but inflicting no American casualties.

Captain Bradley Gordon, spokesman for the 1st Marine Division of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said the ambush happened late yesterday as US soldiers attached to the Marines were patrolling in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad and close to the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Insurgents hid inside the Ramadi General Hospital and Medical College and in nearby areas waiting for the soldiers to move into their ambush zone, Gordon said.

“The insurgents turned off all of the lights in and around the hospital as the soldiers approached,” he said in a statement.

“Insurgents fired rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire from both sides of the road at the soldiers as soon as the lights of the hospital were turned back on.”

“Some of the muzzle flashes of insurgent firing positions were observed as originating from windows within the hospital.”

Gordon said US forces fought through the ambush, sustaining no casualties as they fired on insurgents, some of whom were firing from the hospital.

It was not immediately clear if there were any Iraqi casualties.

Marines will return to the hospital to question administrators about the use of their facilities by insurgents for the ambush, the military added.

US forces also blew up a large cache of confiscated weapons in the Sofia suburb of Ramadi late yesterday.

Ramadi is a stronghold of anti-US opposition where insurgents have been clashing constantly with American forces either encamped around the city or patrolling its streets.

Meanwhile, Iraqi police have detained 30 people after a police station north of Baghdad was attacked by mortar and rocket propelled grenade fire.

Master Sgt Robert Powell said police in Baqouba arrested 29 people late yesterday in Baqouba following the police station attack, in which no casualties were sustained. Another man was captured inside al-Zaituna mosque in possession of two guns.

It was not immediately clear how those detained were connected to the attack, Powell said. The detainees are undergoing police questioning.

In the Baghdad suburb of Bay’a, gunmen attacked the local headquarters of the Iraqi National Guard at about 5.50am (2.50am Irish time), sparking clashes with Iraqi soldiers that lasted about 20 minutes, policeman Mohammed Mohan said. There were no casualties reported.

Iraqi security forces are routinely attacked by insurgents, who regard them as collaborators with US-led efforts to reconstruct the country.